Pastoralism Methodology Development Consultant

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) is a global coalition of more than 150 organizations dedicated to advancing the forest, land, and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, and in particular the women within these groups. RRI’s members capitalize on each other’s strengths, expertise, and geographic reach to achieve solutions more effectively and efficiently. RRI leverages the power of its global coalition to amplify the voices of local peoples and proactively engage governments, multilateral institutions, and private sector actors to adopt institutional and market reforms that support the realization of rights.

RRI is coordinated by the Rights and Resources Group (RRG), a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC.

Purpose

Consultant support is sought to conduct scoping work for the creation of a methodology and framework to assess the tenure security of Pastoralists and other Mobile Peoples.

Background

Globally, there are as many as half a billion pastoralists, and an estimated 1.3 billion people who benefit from pastoralist value chains[1]. Rangelands cover more of the earth’s surface than any other land use type, and pastoralism provides livelihoods to communities in over 100 countries, on all inhabited continents[2]. The United Nations Environmental Programme has identified Pastoralism and rangelands as globally significant, but under-recognized and undervalued[3].

RRI’s Tenure Tracking program monitors the legal recognition of the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities—and the specific rights of women within these communities -- to forests, land, and natural resources. RRI’s “bundle of rights” methodology relies upon an assessment of the rights recognized within each community-based tenure regime (see Annex 1 for further information).

This methodology has allowed RRI to carry out qualitative and quantitative analyses of the global state of community land and forest tenure rights; however, the methodology implicitly assumes year-round settled occupancy of land by a community, and thus does not adequately capture the tenure rights of pastoralists and other mobile peoples.

The RRI Coalition is increasingly engaging with pastoralist communities’ efforts to improve their tenure security, and there is increasing global appreciation of the importance of rangelands for global climate and biodiversity goals.  The declaration of 2026 as International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists will provide a global moment to shine a spotlight on the tenure rights of pastoralist communities, and as such RRI is seeking to develop a differentiated methodology and framework for analysis and data collection in 2024-2025 that builds on RRI’s current Tenure Tracking methodologies and that can assess the tenure security of Pastoralists and other Mobile Peoples.

[1] World Bank. 2021. Moving Towards Sustainability: The Livestock Sector and the World Bank. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/moving-towards-sustainability-the-livestock-sector-and-the-world-bank

[2] Manzano, Pablo, et al. 2021. Toward a holistic understanding of pastoralism. One Earth (4)5: 651-665.

[3] Johnsen, Kathrine Ivsett, et al. 2019. A case of benign neglect: knowledge gaps about sustainability in pastoralism and rangeland. United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi and Arendal. Available at: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/case-benign-neglect-knowledge-gaps-about-sustainability-pastoralism-and-rangelands

Scope of Work

The development of a methodology for tracking the rights of Pastoralist and Mobile peoples requires a nuanced analysis of the statutory mechanisms recognizing their land and resource tenure rights. Because of this, sources of law establishing or securing different rights will range from supranational (e.g. transboundary treaties facilitating mobility) to general national laws (e.g. Constitution, national land laws, court decisions), to CBTR-specific laws (the laws that establish and govern Community-Based Tenure Regimes.

Indicators in the Pastoralist and Mobile Peoples methodology are expected to reflect the large ecosystem of laws, allowing for assessment at each of the following levels:

• Supranational (assessing the availability of cross-boundary rights and considerations)
• National (assessing rights recognized for all individuals in a country that hold heightened importance for those who rely on pastoralism)
• CBTR-specific indicators (assessing specific rights recognized by the national laws most closely regulating these distinct legal frameworks).

The ability of pastoralist communities to exercise their rights is challenged by the often-transboundary nature of their territories and resources; the often-seasonal nature of rights to pastureland and water resources; competing interests of privatised properties on pastoral territories; and land fragmentation, conversion, and degradation. Pastoralist women play a crucial role within pastoralist societies and are integral to maintaining pastoralist community life and identity. However, they remain vulnerable and must constantly negotiate their position within their households, communities and otherwise, facing additional, differentiated challenges to both the recognition and exercise of their rights.

Design Principles

Methodology and Framework:

• Draw on principles of Dana Declaration and the Dana+20 Manifesto of Mobile Peoples
• The analysis should incorporate Gender and women’s specific needs and rights in a cross-cutting manner.
• The framework/methodology should align, to the extent possible, with research on Common-Pool Resources (CPR) management, RRI’s Bundle of Rights Framework, and established Tenure Tracking methodologies and approaches to monitoring community-based tenure and women’s rights to community lands and resources.[1]
• The analysis should take the following into consideration:
• Transboundary mobility rights
• Community rights to both grazing lands and pastoralist infrastructure (e.g. movement corridors, seasonal campsites)
• Ways in which land tenure rights should be conceived for indicators to reflect mobility as a fundamental right and legal frameworks that facilitate adaptability given Pastoral ways of life
• Best practices in reflecting variability of pastoral ecosystems in policy and law-making
• Rights to both land and resources
• Protections against criminalization and forced displacement
• Procedural rights
• Methodology that is stakeholder-informed
• Compatible with Indigenous, Afro-descendent and customary conceptions of land
• Ability to extract findings and recommendations from measurable parameters regarding the situation of Pastoralists and Mobile Peoples.

 Advisory Group:

• Rightsholder representation from Pastoralist communities, including RRI collaborators on HPF-funded activities in East Africa.
• Broad geographic representation.
• Academic and legal experts, with focus on Pastoral and Mobile Peoples.
• Practitioners, including both NGO/civil society organizations implementing projects to support Pastoralist communities, and grassroots activists.
• Initial establishment of a consultation process that ensures effective knowledge transfer and empowerment of the group for ongoing collaboration through 2026.

[1] For example, see Power and Potential (RRI 2017), Whose Water (RRI and ELI 2020), and Who Owns the World’s Land, Second Edition (RRI 2023).

Consultant Deliverables:

The consultant will complete the following deliverables: 

1. A detailed workplan to deliver the project.
2. A scoping paper summarizing key findings and current gaps in the conceptualization and protection of pastoralists’ land and resource tenure rights, based on a review of relevant literature and preliminary engagement with stakeholders.
3. A draft methodology, corresponding to the design principles above, for assessing the strength of pastoralist land and resource tenure rights.
4. Development and initiation of a consultation group, including: identification of and outreach to key stakeholders and expert advisors; establishment of a stakeholder engagement process and communication channels, and initial implementation of consultation process according to the agreed process.
5. Produce final report, incorporating feedback received from consultations, that grounds the proposed framework within a methodology, and situates it within the relevant literature(s).

Minimum Requirements

• Subject matter expertise in land tenure, legal research, or community rights, particularly with pastoralist and mobile peoples.
• Demonstrated experience working across different geographical regions, particularly in rangelands.
• Excellent research and analytical skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear and actionable frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

• We welcome proposals from teams or partnerships between different individuals or organizations.
• We especially welcome proposals from the Global South and/or from representatives of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Descendant Peoples or local communities.

Budget

TBD

Proposed Timeline

Activities will begin as soon as the agreement is executed, with expected completion by mid-December 2024.

Deliverable 1- Development of workplan: 1 to 2 days

Deliverable 2 - Literature review, brief, and preliminary stakeholder engagement: 15 to 20 days

Deliverable 3 – First draft of framework and methodology :15 to 20 days

Deliverable 4 – Development and initiation of a consultation group: 10-20 days, dependent on proposed structure

Deliverable 5 – Final report and proposed methodology: 20 days

Proposal Requirements

Please upload your proposal in a single file that includes:

1. Narrative proposal describing your understanding of the tasks and your approach to delivering the project (no longer than 2 pages);
2. Summary of qualifications describing how your background, or that of your team, positions you to deliver the project (no longer than 1.5 pages);
3. Workplan in Gantt format (no longer than 1 page);
4. Financial proposal with all costs to deliver the project;
5. Annexes, including CVs for relevant team members (each no longer than 2 pages), and any other relevant information.

The deadline for submission is August 16, 2024. 

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be scored based on the following parameters:

• Understanding of the work (40%) 
• Consultant work history and experience (40%) 
• Costs (20%)