Development Marketplace 2009 (DM2009) Climate Adaptation

Terms of Reference
DM2009 Volunteer Assessor

I. Background

Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grants program administered by the World Bank that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects that deliver results and have a high potential for scale-up. The DM2009 is a joint effort of the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and other partners and is organized by World Bank’s Environment (ENV) and Social Development (SDV) Departments and the World Bank Institute (WBI). DM2009 will identify proposals addressing one of the following topics: (i) Resilience of Indigenous Peoples Communities to Climate Risks; (ii) Climate Risk Management with Multiple Benefits; and (iii) Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management (see Annex for a detailed explanation of these subthemes). The DM2009 call for proposals was launched on March 23rdand closes on May 18, 2009.

These Terms of Reference describes the role of the 200 volunteer development professionals who will assess the proposals submitted to the competition and select the 100 finalists.

II. DM2009 Assessment Process

Before the assessment process starts, the DM team and core sectorstaff will eliminate proposals that do not meet basic eligibility criteria such as project duration, award size range, organization type, partnership requirement and thematic focus.

There are two stages of assessment. Volunteers in the first stage can also volunteer for the second.

Stage 1: Selection of 300-400 semi-finalists (June 4-10, 2009)

The scope of work includes:

  • Assessors review the online tutorial of the DM2009 assessment processand are provided access to a DM help desk in case they have questions about the process;
  • Asssessors are grouped into teams of three to four assessorswho have expertise pertaining to a particular sub-theme of the competition;
  • Each assessor reads a batch of about 30-40 proposals and ranks their top 5-6 or so proposals based on DM’s key assessment criteria – Innovation. Assessors in the same team are all asked to read the exact same batch of proposals (June 4-10);
  • Assessors submit their individual ranking via the online DM database (instructions to be provided later) (June 4-10). Comments on individual proposals are welcomed.
  • For each team of assessors, the DM calculates the average ranking of each proposal in the batch. The 8 or so proposals with the highest average ranks are marked as semi-finalists – this decision is final (mid-June);
  • DM team provides the list of the 8 or so semi-finalists to the team of assessorsand offers team members the opportunity to comment on the particular merits or weaknesses of thesemi-finalist proposals. These comments are then passed to the second round assessors for their reference (mid-June).

Collectively, this first stage of the assessment process will result in the identification of approximately 300-400 semi-finalists.

Stage 2: Selection of 100 Finalists (June 19 – July 6 to review proposals)

80 or so assessors who served the first assessment roundwill be asked to join the second round of assessment in late June to early July to further narrow the pool of proposals to 100 finalists. In this round of assessment, teams of 4 assessors are asked to individually review a batch of 20-30 proposals based on all five assessment criteria (innovation, measurable results, realism, sustainability and growth potential; see Annex for details) and rank their top 7 or 8 proposals. Each team of assessors then meets for two-hours to discuss the merits of the proposals and collectively selects 5 finalists (plus one runner-up in case of any drop-out or disqualification). Assessors can participate in this meeting in person or remotely via teleconference, but the DM prefers assessors to physically attend the meeting if at all possible. A facilitator from the World Bank is assigned to each meeting.

III. Qualifications for Assessors

We seek seasoned development professionals within the World Bank and from external organizations, who hold at least a Master’s degree and the minimum of 7-10year of project/field experience and knowledgerelevant to one of the three sub-themes:(i) Resilience of Indigenous Peoples Communities to Climate Risks; (ii) Climate Risk Management with Multiple Benefits; and (iii) Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management.

Because the Indigenous Peoples Communities sub-theme also permits entries in Spanish and French, some of the assessors recruited for this sub-theme will also be required to be fluent in one of these two languages.

If you have submitted a proposal or are a member of an organization that is submitting a proposal, you are not eligible to participate in the assessment process. If an assessor has an on-going relationship with any of the organizations in the batch of proposals he/she is reviewing, we will ask you to identify yourself as such so that we can reassign you to another team of assessors.

Annex

A. Descriptions of the sub-themes

Sub-theme 1: Resilience of Indigenous Peoples Communities to Climate Risks

There are approximately 250 million Indigenous Peoples worldwide. Indigenous Peoples are distinct in that the land on which they live, and the natural resources on which they depend, form part and parcel of their identity and culture. Ancestral territories of Indigenous Peoples encompass up to 22% of the world’s land surface and coincide with regions containing the world’s remaining forests and rich reserves of biodiversity and other natural resources.

Climate change poses differential and heightened threats to the survival of Indigenous Peoples communities. Indigenous Peoples, particularly those living in deserts, high altitudes, tropical forests, islands and coastal regions, and the arctic already experience adverse impacts of climate change. At the same time, because of their close traditional relationship with the environment, Indigenous Peoples are uniquely positioned to adapt to climate change. Indigenous Peoples’ rich traditional knowledge on the environment, agriculture, land management, cultural practices, and trade and customary law can provide a basis for innovations needed to adapt to climate change. However, this knowledge possessed by their elders is itself under serious threat of being forgotten to the detriment of future generations.

This sub-theme of the DM2009 promotes Indigenous Peoples communities and organizations development of innovative ways to adapt to climate change. With particular interest on efforts that focus on the engagement of women and youth, we seek proposals that:

  • Identify and conserve agriculture, land, water and soil management practices that are based on traditional Indigenous knowledge and that help increase the resilience of Indigenous Peoples communities to climate threats;
  • Develop and apply innovative adaptation plans and communication strategies based on Indigenous systems that would help accelerate learning and knowledge sharing on climate change adaptation.

Sub-theme 2: Climate Risk Management with Multiple Benefits

Poor communities have the weakest capacity to manage climate risks. They already struggle to cope with climate variability and extreme weather. These shocks interact with socio-economic factors to worsen the vulnerability and inequality of disadvantaged groups such as women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. As the future brings more dramatic climates, their vulnerability is set to increase unless adaptation is stepped up.

Communities need to build resilience to climate variability and climate change. At the same time as robust adaptation helps safeguard progress in reducing poverty, it may also yield other benefits such as conserving biodiversity and improving the state of eco-systems.

This sub-theme of the DM2009 promotes innovative community-based climate risk management with multiple social and environmental benefits for the vulnerable. Specifically, we seek proposals that deliver multiple social and environmental benefits and empower poor communities exposed to climate risk to:

  • Test innovative, low-cost strategies to spread climate risk beyond the local level (e.g. trade and value-chain improvements; micro-finance), with a preference for strategies that target vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly;
  • Forge innovative partnerships that build adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities, including increased access to climate risk management knowledge, information, and services;
  • Use innovative means to help educate communities on climate risks that leads to empowerment for action.

Sub-theme 3: Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management

Climate change is projected to worsen the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Already, disasters kill tens of thousands of people every year and destroy the livelihoods of millions. Disasters destroy decades of development gains in a few moments and the costs of relief, recovery, and reconstruction consume billions of dollars from regular development funds and household savings.

Disasters push households towards poverty by destroying their human, social, and fixed capital and trap poorer households in persistent poverty. Moreover, disasters disproportionately impact disadvantaged groups such as women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Sustained long-term efforts are needed to integrate climate adaptation and disaster risk management to reduce vulnerability and safeguard development in urban and rural areas.

This sub-theme of the DM2009 promotes innovative ideas linking climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Specifically, we seek proposals that:

  • Develop innovative arrangements, such as social safety nets or micro-insurance, that diffuse climate-related disaster risks faced by the poor and vulnerable beyond the local level with a preference for proposals that target vulnerable women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilitiesand communities in conflict-prone areas;
  • Create innovative low-cost approaches for making housing and local infrastructure resistant to climate-related disasters and for spatial planning (land use, housing, coastal zone management) for climate resilience;
  • Improve the capacity of local communities to access and use multi-hazard risk information to enhance their early warning systems for droughts, floods and cyclones and other community-based responses to climatic extremes and climate change.

B. Evaluation of proposals for DM2009
Proposals evaluated during the first round of assessment for DM2009 will be judged on Innovation only. The second round of assessment will involve all five criteria detailed below.

  • Innovation

Innovation is a major differentiating element of DM competitions compared to other development grant programs. All proposals selected for funding should go beyond standard climate change adaption development projects. The proposal will be assessed according to how it differs from existing approaches. Note that transferring an approach to solve a common problem from one beneficiary group or from one geographic area to another is not considered innovative by the DM Program.

NOTE: The four criteria listed below will be added to Innovation only during the second assessment round.

  • Objective & Measuring Results

The project should have clear and measurable results that will have a direct impact on improving individuals’ or communities’ ability to adapt to climate change. The expected results / outcome of the proposed project should be achievable within the timeframe of implementation of the DM funding. Assessors will also examine the quality of proposed indicators of the outcomes/results you expect to achieve and review any other method(s) that you propose to use to measure project success.

  • Project Design & Organizational Capacity

The project should have a realistic plan with concrete steps/activities to achieve the project objective within the two-year or less span of implementation. The organization’s, and if applicable, its partner’s capacity to implement the project will be assessed.

  • Sustainability of Impact

Assessors will assess the characteristics of the project that, if successful, will help ensure that its results and development impacts are sustainable after DM funding. Depending on the project design, the characteristics could involve financial and/or organizational sustainability.

For organizational sustainability, proposals should describe the factors related to your organization’s capacity and the capacity of your partner organization to sustain the results of the project.

For financial sustainability, the strategyto become self-perpetuatingwill differ depending on the type of project.

For revenue-generating projects, a realistic timeframe and pathway to reach the point of revenue breakeven should be included. If possible, project the long term expenses and revenue/income stream (noting any market assumptions for sources such as user fees, sales revenues, community contributions, etc.).If breakeven is not expected by the end of DM support, the strategy for external donor or investor support between the end of the DM project and the breakeven point should be stated.

For projects that are not generating any income or revenue, the proposal should provide a realistic strategy for sustaining the project’s results after completion of DM support from sources such as other donors, private foundations, and government agencies, etc.

  • Growth Potential

DM places a premium on projects that have the potential to have a large scale development impact. Assessors will explore possible constraints as well as the opportunitiesto scaling up / replicating.

Replicability is when a project can be adopted by other groups. For example, a new method for organizing work flow and quality control to increase production of bamboo-based home decorations tested by a DM project is then transferred / learned by a rural artisan cooperative of Vietnamese women, and as a result they increase production from 1,000 pieces to 10,000 pieces per month, enabling them to get a major EU retailer to become a customer of the cooperative.

Scalability is when a project can be expanded within a geographic area to benefit more people in the project area. For example, an innovative approach to use specific types of grasses to stabilize freshwater embankments that has been successfully tested on a few hectares of embankments is then rolled out on a massive scale along creeks in fragile, high rainfall areas on the Eastern slopes of the AndesMountains.

Please contact Keiko Nagai () with any questions on the assessment process.

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