Individual Consultant: Virtual ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum Management Full Time

The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) was established in 2010 in response to the energy poverty crisis faced by the West Africa region, and the need to mitigate the effects of climate change. It was a strategic decision by West African leaders — under the auspices of the ECOWAS Commission — to strive to reduce the daunting energy deficit and to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in the region.

ECREEE is now largely seen as the “go-to” regional institutional to deal with all renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) matters in the ECOWAS. ECREEE played a critical role in the adoption of a community vision for ensuring universal access to energy by 2030, as well as in the approval of four major regional sustainable energy policies by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government. These include the RE policy, EE policy, Bioenergy policy, and Gender policy.

The ECOWAS region, under the technical leadership of ECREEE, has been implementing these policy agendas as a way to address the daunting challenges facing the region in providing access to clean and affordable energy for all. Since 2017, ECREEE has convened the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF), which has become the must-to-attend energy event in West Africa, providing a veritable platform for networking and forging effective partnerships that will accelerate the implementation of priority energy projects. The vision of the forum is to foster concrete progress in the implementation of the ECOWAS region’s sustainable energy targets, as well as the Sustainable Energy For All (SeforAll) Initiative in the ECOWAS region.

While the maiden and second editions were successfully organized in Dakar, Senegal, the third episode was held in Accra, Ghana in October 2019. However, the 2020 edition coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and was held virtually for the first time. Given the current global health situation, ESEF 2021 will also be digital. ECREEE is therefore seeking to recruit an individual consultant to support the organization of the second virtual ESEF, including:

Planning and Organization; Branding; and Partnership and Sponsorship Mobilization. ECREEE is therefore seeking to recruit a consultant to support the organization of the event. The average number of participants is 1,000, drawn from power/electrification investors, policymakers and regulators, academia/educators, power/engineering experts development agencies, multilateral banks, key players in energy sector/utilities, big power users including mining/ manufacturing companies/ mobile operators.

Objective

The objective of the assignment is to plan, organize, and manage the Virtual ESEF2021.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Consultant

Under the overall guidance of the Executive Director of ECREEE and the immediate supervision of the ESEF Coordinator, the individualconsultant is responsible for the branding, sponsorship, marketing, planning, and organization of ESEF2021. Details of each of these components include:

Branding

• Develop an event logo or word/letter mark for visual identification and recognition;
• Propose a new theme or rephrase existing one to suit the event objective;
• Design and brand all conference-related materials and make available for electronic use;
• Develop a functional and responsive website for the event, which can be linked to ECREEE’s websites; and
• Create and manage social media platforms for the event.

Partnership and Sponsorship Mobilization

• Attract major organizations such as DFI, international NGO and industry associations, as partners for ESEF2021
• Develop sponsorship package and promote the event with potential sponsors.
• Draft proposals and agreements when sponsors are secured.

Marketing

• Ensure the proper visibility of the event, by setting up a communication plan to divulge it through different channels;
• Attract participants from diverse sectorial groups (local and international) for the conference.

Planning and Organization

•  Plan all aspects of the event;
• Identify and categorize stakeholders and manage invitations and confirm delegates with a reliable booking management system;
• Develop a profile for speakers and presenters and invite them;
• Develop the content and agenda of the conference using a combination of keynote speeches, and plenary sessions;
• Develop communication outreach content in collaboration with ECOWAS agencies communication departments using all communication channels and tools;
• Arrange and manage audio-visual and other technology-related requirements;
• Provide a post-conference support review.

Deliverables

The consultant shall provide the following key deliverables:

• A Concept Note (including draft agenda, timelines, etc.);
• Visuals and communication templates;
• Social media toolkit and campaign materials;
• An online website template for the forum;
• A program for the forum and speakers;
• A report on a test-run of the forum;
• Speaker invites;
• Mass email invite sent out to respective networks;
• A list of key institutions to be invited;
• A Beta version of the business-to-business (B2B) website;
• A report on B2B meetings, and
• Final Report on ESEF2021

Qualification and Experience Required

The consultant shall, as a minimum, be capable of providing professional conference managerial services at international standards and best practices. The consultant must meet the following requirements:

• Demonstrable experience in organizing, directing and hosting successful events of comparable nature;
• Ability to provide the required services as detailed in the scope of work above; and
• Must be able to work and provide outputs for the eventin the three ECOWAS languages (English, French and Portuguese).

Management and Timeframe

The consultant will be engaged from 1 st August to 18 December 2021. The services are expected to be largely provided remotely. The consultant shall report to the chairperson of the ESEF Planning Committee. Upon the start of the services the contractor shall:

•  Build a strong partnership and work in close cooperation with the ESEF2021 planning committee to ensure understanding of the specific vision and goals of the event;
• Be open and transparent and, provide consistent and timely communication through regular status reporting to the planning committee throughout the stages of the event; and U
• se its best efforts to manage cost and budget, and develop and manage the event in such a way that it meets or even exceeds the expectations of the promoters and the objectives.

Deadline

The deadline for submission of proposals is 30th July 2021, 23:00 UTC-1. Proposals should be submitted in any of the ECOWAS official languages and sent by email ONLY to [email protected], clearly indicating in the subject: “TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF VIRTUAL ECOWAS SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FORUM (ESEF) 2021”

The individual email size should not exceed 10 MB and the attachments should not be in zip format. For any clarifications please contact the ESEF Coordinator, Mr. Hyacinth Elayo – [email protected]