ADVISORY SERVICES FOR THE FSC INDIGENOUS FOUNDATION PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE 360 EVALUATION ASSISTANCE

Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development – IPARD

Cooperative Agreement No. 7200AA20CA00013

REQUEST FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES

ADVISORY SERVICES FOR THE FSC INDIGENOUS FOUNDATION PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE 360 EVALUATION ASSISTANCE

1. 1. IPARD PROGRAM INFORMATION
2. BACKGROUND

In 2019, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) established the FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC- IF) as the operational office of the Permanent Indigenous Peoples Committee (PIPC). The FSC-IF is a private interest foundation in accordance with Law No. 25 of June 12, 1995 of the Republic of Panama. The mission of FSC-IF is to enable an enabling environment to guarantee the rights of Indigenous Peoples and promote sustainable forest-based solutions within 300 million hectares of indigenous forests on the planet. The vision is that Indigenous Peoples’ global values, rights, livelihoods, ecosystem services, natural capital and communities are incorporated into forest governance, climate change governance and market systems.

Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance for Rights and Development

The FSC-IF is the implementing partner of the five-year Global Development Alliance (GDA) program funded by USAID and FSC: Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD). The IPARD Program is guided by three development objectives:

● Objective 1: To organize and convene a capacity building program for Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and stakeholders;

● Objective 2: To foster an enabling environment for the recognition, effective participation and joint decision-making by Indigenous Peoples in matters affecting them; and;

● Objective 3: Promote the sustainable development of Indigenous Peoples based on sustainable economic models.

IPARD uses three interconnected approaches to support Indigenous Peoples in overcoming their development challenges:

A. Multi-Sectoral Approach (MSA): under the strategic guidance of IPARD’s Steering Committee (SC), the Program convenes and leverages the expertise of multi-sectoral partners to ensure that the needs of Indigenous communities are considered across a wide range of sectors.

B. Country-Focused Approach (CFA): IPARD’s programmatic strategy is guided by a country-focused approach, driven by specific national contexts related to Indigenous Peoples. IPARD implements a structured process to identify, evaluate and select countries for its programs. FSC-IF works in conjunction with the IPARD Steering Committee, and according to the guidelines of the multi-sectoral approach, to select countries and identify key priorities and strategies.

C. Indigenous Project Management Approach (IPMA): Leveraging FSC-IF’s networks and relationships with Indigenous leaders and organizations around the world, IPARD seeks ongoing dialogue, consultation, and feedback with Indigenous Peoples to inform the Program. IPARD supports a forum through which the FSC-IF Indigenous Foundation serves as a bridge between Indigenous Peoples, technical partners, national governments, and the private sector. IPARD invests in best practice conservation and effective approaches and methodologies to ensure strategic cohesion of partnerships at various levels.

Through these three approaches, IPARD aims to empower Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and catalyze an enabling environment where Indigenous Peoples can pursue their development.

We are Indigenous Peoples; our strategies and our future actions are shaped by ancestral knowledge, practices, cosmovision, values, and respect for Mother Earth and our past. We as FSC-IF are providers of Indigenous-based solutions, and our ancestral knowledge and traditions have driven Indigenous-based solutions for centuries. We are Indigenous Peoples; we are the owners of Indigenous-based solutions to global challenges, and the FSC Indigenous Foundation is the global vehicle to design, manage, facilitate, and scale up Indigenous-led solutions through multi-sectoral partnerships. The FSC Indigenous Foundation has an Indigenous perspective driven by Indigenous values, vision, principles, ancestral knowledge, and traditional practices connected to Mother Earth. FSC-IF is shaped to respond to key challenges and opportunities faced by Indigenous Peoples to achieve their self-development, self-governance, and self-reliance. Driven by this perspective, the way we operate differs from traditional organizational planning because our cultural and traditional way of thinking, acting, and interacting do not fit into a predetermined Western tradition of thoughts, organizational management, or governance.

We are committed to work driven by our values of being guided by and supporting Indigenous Peoples’ values of: 1) Respect for Mother Earth Managing our lands, waters, and ecosystems with great respect to nature and care by recognizing that we only borrow them from future generations and 2) Respect for ancestral knowledge Keeping our promises to our ancestors to manage nature and the resources provided by the Mother Earth in a sustainable and respectful way.

1. CONTEXT

The FSC Indigenous Foundation requires a consultant/consultancy firm to develop an evaluation system and procedures for performance evaluation, including 360 evaluations, under the following context:

The organization needs support in performing and developing an evaluation system that allows, determining in detail, the knowledge and opportunity of growth of the organization´s staff, and thus be able to create rewards and a gender-sensitive career-development management plan in the medium and long term that support the retention of key talents. In the search for this, FSC-IF expects a proposal that include the design of a performance and leadership evaluation program to support the management to analyze development and improvement opportunities in order to promote continuous improvement of general performance, long-term talent retention and that allows the company to be competitive in the compensation of the specialized and competitive markets where it is established.

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR THE IPARD’S

• Support FSC-IF administration in the process of understanding the current evaluation process, general guidelines, philosophy, and organizational culture to support the definition of an evaluation instrument among FSC-IF´s leadership, management, and executives having an Indigenous cosmovision and perspective in all the process.
• Facilitate the evaluation process through the distribution, monitoring, reception, compilation and analysis of the results obtained with the team.
• Document the process followed to support the design of a methodology that includes policies and procedures for 360 evaluations in the foundation, including the board of directors, senior management, and other executives of the organization.
• Prepare a report with the main findings and formulate recommendations that represent action plans for future consideration by senior management.

Expected Deliverables:

• Documentation of a performance review for all the team members, including soft skills and goal achievement performance.
• Documentation of a 360 degree performance evaluation for all FSC-IF members.
• A written policy and procedure for both performance and 360 evaluations yearly reviews, to be applied by the FSC-IF Administration in future performance evaluations.

Profile of the Offeror

• Professional firm or consultant with studies and experience related in Economics, Finance, Business, International Development, Political Science or HR Management.
• Previous experience, at least 7 years working with international organizations, private sector and donors is a must.
• Having experience in advising in social and/or economic matters.
• Experience integrating and combining global good and best practices with Indigenous cultural cosmovision, dimension, ancestral traditions and wisdom and customs.
• Experience in providing international high-level consultancy services.
• Good interpersonal communication and coordination skills.
• Extensive and strong knowledge of human resources politics, rights, equity and fairness of treatment.
• Excellent written and spoken English and fluency in Spanish is required.
• Demonstrated cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of values, views and approaches to issues relevant to Indigenous Peoples.

Coordination

The consultant will coordinate the expected work with the FSC-IF Finance and Administration management who will serve as the liaison with the FSC-IF Managing Director and the IPARD Program Director and all the other stakeholders involved with this consultancy.

Conditions for payments of the products:

The products must be authorized by the Finance and Administration Director in order to proceed with payment. All products must be delivered in digital format.

Duration of the assignment

The consultant should perform the assignment and deliverables within a period of six (6) weeks.

1. 1. INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS
2. 1. Proposal Submission Deadline

• Deadline for submission is May 12, 2023 (5:00 p.m. Panama Time)

1. 1. Submission Address

Both the Technical Proposal and Cost Proposal must be submitted via e-mail to: [email protected] with the subject line – “ADVISORY SERVICES FOR THE FSC INDIGENOUS FOUNDATION PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE 360 EVALUATION ASSISTANCE”

1. 1. Proposal Requirements

All proposal submissions must include a Technical and a Financial proposal, either in one (1) document or in two (2) separated documents. The Technical proposal should include the proposed team and their profiles.

1. 1. Offer Validity

Offers must be valid for up to three months after date of submission.

1. 1. Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Please note the Evaluation Criteria for this solicitation:

Criteria Weight

1. Financial Proposal 40%
2. Technical Approach 40%
3. Team Profile 20%