Request for Proposal For Conducting Studies On The Enabling Environment For Implementing Zero Deforestation Cocoa Production

Request for proposals for Conducting Studies on the Enabling Environment for Implementing Zero Deforestation Cocoa Production in Guinea Closing Date: 16 Jun 2025 Type: Consultancy THE ORGANIZATION The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (The Alliance) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve peoples lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. With novel partnerships, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations to transform food systems and landscapes so that they sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people in a climate crisis. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. https://alliancebioversityciat.org/ , www.cgiar.org. BACKGROUND The need to transform food systems into to low emissions production systems has become a pivotal theme in global climate discussions, focusing on addressing key challenges in sustainable development. The global food system plays a significant role in driving climate change, accounting for approximately one-third of total human-generated GHG emissions. Despite this significant impact, countries pledges to mitigate climate change through instruments such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement (2016) fall short and do not necessarily consider food-system emissions. This is in part due to countries concerns regarding the impact of interventions on key development priorities such as food and nutrition security. Addressing this challenge requires more than just innovative technologies. It demands a transdisciplinary approach that integrates science, policy, and community engagement to develop an enabling environment for scaling innovations towards food system transformation. This transdisciplinary approach includes aspects such as (1) identifying direct and underlying drivers of food system GHG emissions and GHG emission sources; (2) identifying geographical areas where government development priorities overlap with food system GHG mitigation opportunities; (3) identifying farm-level drivers of adoption of innovations; (4) implementing value chain upgrading strategies to overcome adoption barriers; (5) promoting sustainable business models and financial mechanisms to scale innovations; (6) measuring climate action benefits, SDG co-benefits, and undesired effects. Cocoa production is a pillar of Guineas economy, playing a vital role in national development and the global chocolate industry. It has provided millions of smallholder farmers with a stable source of income, creating opportunities for economic mobility in regions historically affected by high poverty rates. Beyond individual livelihoods, the sector significantly contributes to the national economy. Key challenges persist in the cocoa sector in Guineas, including deforestation and GHG emission, limited access to finance, market instability and labor concerns, particularly child labor. Cocoa cultivation remains a major driver of deforestation and soil degradation, as farmers expand production to meet growing demand. Socially, deep-rooted issues such as child labor and gender inequality continue to hinder rural development and poverty reduction. Additionally, the sector faces significant barriers to adopting sustainable farming methods due to limited technical knowledge and resources. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensuring the long-term sustainability of cocoa production in Guinea. This call for proposals aims to develop studies on the enabling environment for implementing zero deforestation cocoa production in Guinea, using an integrated and multidisciplinary approach. OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES Main activity, sub activities and expected deliverables for developing studies on the enabling environment for implementing zero deforestation cocoa production in Guinea. Objective : 1 Analyzing the role of cocoa production as a direct and underlying driver of GHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Guinea. Activity is about examining the contributions of cocoa production to deforestation and GHG emission in Guinea. The following sub-activities shall be conducted under this deliverable; -Map cocoa producing regions in Guinea and indicate the current area under cocoa cultivation in each region as well as national figures. - Produce high-resolution maps of trends of cocoa production in Guinea. -Produce a high-resolution map that shows trends (between 2000 and 2024) of deforestation and forest degradation and associated carbon emissions in Guinea. -Perform a quantitative study on socio-economic and political factors, including cacao production and child labor, affecting deforestation in Guinea. Factors can be identified in the framework developed by Sylvester et al., (2024). - Conduct a literature review of the different cocoa production practices (including agroforestry) in different regions and GHG associated with the different practices. Deliverable: -A report that maps cocoa-producing regions in Guinea, detailing current cocoa cultivation areas by region and nationally. The report shall include high-resolution maps of cocoa production in Guinea and presents trends from 2000 to 2024 in deforestation and forest degradation as well as associated carbon emissions across key cocoa-producing regions. -A quantitative report that analyzes socio-economic and political drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Guinea. The report shall also present the result of the literature review on cocoa production practices and their associated greenhouse gas emissions in different regions. Objective : 2 Understanding stakeholders development priorities in cocoa value chain Guinea. This activity aims to identify the thematic and geographical areas where development priorities of value chain stakeholders (including government priorities) overlap with GHG-mitigation opportunities in the cocoa value chain. The key activities shall be. -Organize one national level workshop involving stakeholders (including the government) in cocoa value chain in different cocoa producing regions to understand the development priorities of different stakeholders in the cocoa value chain. - Using data on socioeconomic and political factors driven deforestation from 1, perform spatial explicit analysis showing geographical overlaps at lowest scale possible between deforestation, cacao production and development priorities Deliverable A report that summarizes one national workshops held to identify development priorities of regional stakeholders and national actors in Guineas cocoa value chain. The report shall also present the methodology and the results of the geospatial explicit analysis between deforestation, cocoa production and development priorities. Objective: 3 Assessing farm-level potential for adoption of zero deforestation cocoa production in Guinea This activity aims to understand the factors that influence farmers adoption behavior of agroforestry cocoa production, enabling the design of effective incentives to boost adoption. The key activities under this objective shall include. -Conduct review of existing literature in Guinea on factors affecting farmers adoption of zero deforestation and sustainable practices in the cocoa value chain such as agroforestry. Deliverable - A report on the review of literature on factors influencing farmers adoption of zero-deforestation and sustainable practices in Guineas cocoa value chain. The report shall contain suggested incentives for boosting the adoption of zero deforestation and sustainable practices in Guinea. Objective: 4 Value-chain upgrading strategies to overcome adoption barriers of zero deforestation cocoa production. This activity shall focus on understanding the obstacles within the cocoa value chain that hinder both the adoption of sustainable practices and the processing of cacao. Based on that, craft strategies to effectively address these challenges. The sub activities shall be. -Perform a value chain analysis and provide a snapshot on the current state of the cocoa value chain in Guinea(structure, key actors, regional characteristics, environmental factors, relationships between actors, and competitiveness levels). -Identify together with cacao value chain stakeholders the bottlenecks that hinder the implementation of a zero-deforestation strategy in cacao production, as well as its processing into cocoa Deliverable: A report on Guineas cocoa value chain structure, key actors, and challenges, identifying bottlenecks hindering zero-deforestation strategy implementation in cocoa production. Objective: 5 Inclusive business models and financial mechanisms to scale for implementing zero deforestation in the cocoa value chain. Inclusive business models and finance are crucial for facilitating the implementation of zero deforestation practices such as agroforestry, as well as to scale local processing in the cocoa value chain. Key activities under this deliverable includes. -Analyze existing business models and financial mechanisms for implementing zero deforestation cacao production, as well as to scale cacao processing. -Identify and describe three viable business models for implementing zero deforestation cacao production and cocoa processing. Deliverable: A report that reviews business models and financial mechanisms for zero-deforestation cacao, identifying and describing three viable implementation options for Guinea Objective: 6 Understanding climate action and development co-benefits for implementing zero deforestation cacao production in Guinea. This del Tender Link : https://reliefweb.int/job/4155663/request-proposal-conducting-studies-enabling-environment-implementing-zero-deforestation-cocoa-production-guinea