The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) Programme is an initiative of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (OACP) Group of States funded by the 11th European Development Fund. The programme aims to assist the ACP countries in developing a framework for improving technical and institutional approaches to conserve biodiversity, particularly in protected areas, through regional cooperation and capacity building activities.
IUCN and the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre (JRC) jointly implement BIOPAMA. In line with BIOPAMA programme objectives, a Regional Resource Hub (RRH) for Biodiversity and Protected Areas was established at the Regional Centre for Mapping Resources for Development (RCMRD), the regional implementing partner of the programme in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region. The RRH hosts the Regional Reference Information System (RRIS), which works as a platform to facilitate exchange of data/information among decision makers and managers of protected areas and supports regional priorities for decision support products. One such product is a regional “State of Protected and Conserved Areas” (SoPACA) report which was developed in support of Eastern and Southern African countries in 2020 and another will be developed towards the end of the project.
The BIOPAMA programme is a six-year programme, now in its 4 th year, beginning late 2017 and ending in 2023. The RRH developed under the BIOPAMA programme is intended to continue to operate beyond the end of the BIOPAMA programme. The work within the next years of BIOPAMA is to fully integrate the RRH into the host institution - RCMRD. Sustainability of the RRH is a means to continue to perform and deliver benefits to the primary target audiences after the funding from BIOPAMA terminates. This kind of sustainability includes
a. Programmatic sustainability of the RRH – products and services offered e.g. continuous development of State of Protected and Conserved Areas (SoPACA) report, as well as tool development and capacity building in response to regional needs.
b. Institutional stability – continued support for the work of the RRH within the organisation e.g. communication, human resources, computing and technological infrastructure.
c. Financial sustainability – financing of recurrent costs i.e. steady flow of funds for outreach, staff time, day to day running of the RRH, development of new features, etc.
Objective of the Consultancy
Working under the supervision of the BIOPAMA Regional Coordinator, the main objective of this consultancy is to develop a 10 year strategic plan for the sustainability of the Regional Resource Hub. This will take into account the current internal and external operating environment in order to enhance the RRH’s effectiveness and sustainability in the area of policy and decision making in the Eastern and Southern African region comprising 24 countries