Consultancy to Develop a Business Plan for the ECOWAS Certification Scheme for Sustainable Energy Skills

In fulfilment of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy (EREP) and National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) of Member States, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) with the support of the European Union, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and other partners, has established the ECOWAS Certification of Sustainable Energy Skills (ECSES) Program. The aim is to promote professional competency and to address the issue of quality assurance that exist along the renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) value-chain in West Africa.

The certification exams are based on Job-Task-Analysis (JTA) at various levels, developed by experts from the ECOWAS member states and the international community, with the support of technical and financial partners. ECREEE is also working towards getting accredited by ISO, specifically aligning all the structures and procedures of the certification system to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17024:2012 “conformity assessment-General requirements for bodies performing certification of persons”. ECREEE has also formed a Technical Committee (TC) with representatives from each of the ECOWAS countries that serves as an advisory body to the program.

To organize the certification exams in each country, ECREEE partners with selected examination centres in ECOWAS countries and a Memoranda of Understanding is signed between the Centers and ECREEE for five years. Non-experienced candidates are referred by ECREEE to training partners to complete a training program based on the JTA, before taking the certification exam. During the first phase of the program implementation, twenty-four (24) exams and training centres were selected in eight ECOWAS countries and four (04) examinations were organized. ECREEE plans to hold five more exams in five countries before the end of October 2021.

ECREEE is therefore seeking to recruit an individual consultant to develop a business plan for the ECSES program with the Terms of Reference (ToR) attached.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

• Proposals, both technical and financial, should be submitted by email ONLY to  bplan_cert(at)ecreee.org, clearly indicating in the subject: « BUSINESS PLAN FOR ECSES»;
• For additional information or request for clarification, please contact ECREEE through the following E-mails jbulgo(at)ecreee.org and isoumaila(at)ecreee.org. Please do not copy any of these two email addresses when submitting your proposals. Your application will be disqualified if you ignore this instruction.
• Financial proposal should be submitted in currency of any ECOWAS Member State or in any other convertible currency (US Dollar, EUR, Canadian Dollar, Pound).
• THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS IS THE 26 OCTOBER 2021, 23H00 UTC-1.
• Proposals should not be submitted on ZIP format or exceed 10MB (total attachment per email).