Request for expressions of interest for an individual consultant to develop a climate adaptation framework for the Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project
Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project
Ministry of Finance and National Planning
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (Individual Consultants)
Ref No: ZMB-2000004924-0064-CS-ICS th Issue date: 9 October 2026
COUNTRY: Zambia
NAME OF PROJECT: Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project (FIRIP)
Assignment Title: Consultancy Services to Develop a Climate Adaptation Framework to Support Climate Mainstreaming in the Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project (Firip)
Reference no: ZMB-2000004924-0064-CS-ICS
The Ministry of Finance and National Planning has received financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards the cost of Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project (FIRIP), and intends to apply part of the proceeds for the recruitment of an individual consultant to develop a climate adaptation framework to support climate mainstreaming in the Financial Inclusion for Resilience And Innovation Project (FIRIP). The use of any IFAD financing shall be subject to IFAD's approval, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the financing agreement, as well as IFAD's rules, policies and procedures. IFAD and its officials, agents and employees shall be held harmless from and against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any party in connection with FIRIP.
The consulting services (“the services”) to develop a Climate Adaptation Framework for FIRIP that provides a systematic and practical approach for mainstreaming climate change adaptation considerations throughout the project cycle, including planning, identification and design of interventions, appraisal, financing, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. The Framework will translate FIRIP's climate ambition and climate-risk classification into practical climate mainstreaming requirements for the Project Management Unit (PMU), Participating Financial Service Providers (PFSPs), Community-Based Financial Institutions (CBFIs), implementing partners and other project stakeholders.
The duration is 20 working days.
This request for expressions of interest (REOI) follows the general procurement notice that th th appeared on the IFAD website on 6 July 2026 and in the Times of Zambia newspaper on 19 th th August 2026, 4 September 2026 and the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper on 24 August 2026 and st 31 August 2026.
The attention of interested consultants is drawn to IFAD's Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy and the Revised IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption
in its Activities and Operations . The latter sets forth IFAD's provisions on prohibited practices. IFAD further strives to ensure a safe working environment free of harassment, including sexual harassment, and free of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in its activities and operations as detailed in its IFAD Policy to Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. By entering in this document, you certify to have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Privacy Policy of IFAD.
Interested consultants shall not have any actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest. Consultants with an actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest shall be disqualified unless otherwise explicitly approved by the Fund. Consultants are considered to have a conflict of interest if they a) have a relationship that provides them with undue or undisclosed information about or influence over the selection process and the execution of the contract, or b) have a business or family relationship with a member of the client’s board of directors or its personnel, the Fund or its personnel, or any other individual that was, has been or might reasonably be directly or indirectly involved in any part of (i) the preparation of the REOI, (ii) the selection process for this procurement, or (iii) execution of the contract. Consultants have an ongoing obligation to disclose any situation of actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest during preparation of the EOI, the selection process or the contract execution. Failure to properly disclose any of said situations may lead to appropriate actions, including the disqualification of the consultant, the termination of the contract and any other as appropriate under the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Projects and Operations. The following conflict of interest rules shall apply with respect to recruitment of government/client staff within the consultant’s proposed team:
- No member of the client's board of directors or current employees of the client (whether part time, or full time, paid or unpaid, in leave status, etc.) shall be proposed or work as, or on behalf of, any consultant.
- Except as provided, no current employees of the government shall work as consultants or as personnel under their own ministries, departments or agencies.
- Recruiting former client or government employees to perform services for their former ministries, departments or agencies is acceptable provided no conflict of interest exists.
- If a consultant proposes any government employee as personnel in their technical proposal, such personnel must have written certification from the government confirming that: (i) they will be on leave without pay from the time of their official proposal submission and will remain on leave without pay until the end of their assignment with the consultant and they are allowed to work full-time outside of their previous official position; or (ii) they will resign or retire from government employment on or prior to the contract award date. Under no circumstances shall any individuals described in (i) and (ii) be responsible for approving the implementation of this contract. Such certification shall be provided to the client by the consultant as part of its technical proposal.
- In the case where a consultant seeks to engage the services of any person who may have left the client within a period of less than twelve (12) months of the date of this REOI, it must obtain a written “no-objection” from the client for the inclusion of such a person, prior to the consultant’s submission of its EOI or proposal.
The Ministry of Finance and National Planning now invites eligible Individual consultants (“consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services in the form of a Curriculum Vitae (CV). A consultant will be selected in
accordance with the individual consultant selection (ICS) method set out in IFAD’ Project Procurement Handbook that can be accessed via the IFAD website at www.ifad.org/project-procurement. Interviews will not be conducted as part of the selection process. The shortlisting criteria will consider the consultant with following qualifications:
- Master's degree in Climate Change, Climate Finance, Environmental Science, Environmental Economics, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Finance, Agricultural Economics or a related field;
- At least ten (10) years of relevant professional experience;
- Demonstrated experience in climate change adaptation and climate finance;
- Demonstrated experience in developing climate finance frameworks, climate mainstreaming frameworks, adaptation strategies, climate investment frameworks or similar instruments;
- Strong understanding of climate risk and vulnerability assessment;
- Demonstrated knowledge of climate finance tracking and climate finance classification;
- Knowledge of climate-smart agriculture, rural livelihoods and climate-resilient value chains;
- Experience working with Government institutions and development partners;
- Strong understanding of IFAD climate and environmental requirements, including SECAP; and
- Experience developing practical guidelines, screening tools, indicators and implementation frameworks.
Interested consultants are encouraged to obtain more information on Terms of Reference from FIRIP website www.firip.org.zm Any request for clarification on this REOI should be sent via e-mail to the address below th contact1@firip.org.zm no later than 10:00 hours local time, 16 October, 2026. The client will rd provide responses to all clarification requests by 23 October 2026. Expressions of interest in the form of curriculum vitae (CV) must be sent in a written form to the th address below by e-mail by 30 October 2026.
Friday Mumba Procurement Specialist Financial Inclusion for Resilience and Innovation Project (FIRIP). P.O. Box 50711, Plot 34 C Sable Road, Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia. E-mail: contact1@firip.org.zm Yours sincerely,
Head Procurement and Supplies Unit,
Ministry of Finance and National Planning
The policy is accessible at https://www.ifad.org/en/document-detail/asset/41942012 The policy is accessible at www.ifad.org/anticorruption_policy The policy is accessible at https://www.ifad.org/en/document-detail/asset/40738506