Recruitment of an operator for the social project management of protection and restoration activities of degraded areas (assistance for natural regeneration (RNA), CES/DRS and manual firebreaks) in the 14 intervention municipalities of PAGMV

Islamic Republic of Mauritania Honor-Fraternity-Justice MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL AGENCY OF THE GREAT GREEN WALL GREAT GREEN WALL SUPPORT PROJECT PAGMV (Convention CMR1245 01B) The National Agency of the Great Green Wall (ANGMV) has obtained financing from the French Development Agency (AFD) under the Great Green Wall Support Project (PAGMV), and intends to use part of the amount thereof for the mobilization of a service provider who will be in charge of the social project management of protection and restoration activities of degraded areas (assistance for natural regeneration (RNA), CES/DRS and manual firebreaks) in the 14 intervention municipalities of PAGMV. The Great Green Wall Support Project aims to (i) strengthen food security and support value chains for agricultural and non-timber forest products, (ii) preserve ecosystems and sustainable and decentralized management of natural resources, and (iii) support ANGMV and other actors of the GGW. The PAGMV intervention zone covers 14 municipalities spread across 04 Wilayas, namely the two Hodhs, Assaba and Brakna. The services requested will aim to support ANGMV and PAGMV in the implementation of the project activities and the GGW initiative in Mauritania, in particular: • Identification of areas to be protected, socio-land diagnostics and establishment of agreements on Natural Resource Management (NRM) through local consultation processes; • Identification and implementation of water and soil conservation/soil defense and restoration (CES/DRS) works in degraded areas; • Implementation of assisted natural regeneration (RNA) activities; • Identification and protection of pastoral areas and corridors against bush fires through awareness-raising, creation and maintenance of manual firebreaks; • Small-scale experimentation of innovative techniques for the restoration of degraded soils and lands. The PANGMV/PAGMV invites NGOs and/or groups of NGOs interested to express their interest in providing the services described above. This Call for Expressions of Interest (CEI) is addressed to: NGOs and/or groups of NGOs. The estimated duration of the service is 36 months. The eligibility criteria for AFD financing are specified in Article 1.3 of the "Directives for Procurement Financed by AFD in Foreign States", available online on the AFD website: http://www.afd.fr. Candidates may submit only one application in their own name or as a group. If a candidate (including a member of a group) submits or participates in multiple applications, they will be eliminated. However, the same subcontractor may participate in multiple applications. If the candidate is formed as a group, the expression of interest must include: • A copy of the group agreement concluded by all its members, or • A letter of intent to form a group, signed by all its members and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Group Agreement. In the absence of this document, the other members will be considered subcontractors. The references and qualifications of subcontractors are not taken into account in the evaluation of applications. Interested candidates must provide information demonstrating that they are qualified and experienced to perform these services. As such, they will justify that they have references for recent and similar services. A maximum of 15 references will be presented by each candidate. The similarity of the references will be analyzed based on: • Scope of the contracts; • Nature of the services: (see list of services cited above); • Field and technical expertise (references less than ten years old): (i) CES/DRS works, assisted natural regeneration (RNA) and manual firebreaks; (ii) territorial diagnosis (socio-land), local consultation and sustainable land management; (iii) management of local labor through the HIMO approach: High Intensity of Manual Labor, (iv) fight against bush fires. The client will also examine the relevance of the expressions of interest with regard to the following criteria: • Ability to mobilize qualified and relevant expert profiles in Mauritania for the team responsible for carrying out the work in the field; • In-depth knowledge of CRS/DRS, RNA techniques, fighting bush fires, dune fixation and restoration of degraded lands in Mauritania and in the Sahelian environment; • In-depth knowledge of the context and challenges specific to Sahelian countries and Mauritania in particular. Due to the security risk in the areas where the Services are to be carried out (Assaba, Brakna, Hodh El Chargui and Hodh El Gharbi), the eva