Individual Consultancy Service: Harmonized Biennial Status Report on Fisheries & Aquaculture Combining East & South Report with North & West Report | AU-IBAR

Introduction

The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), a specialized technical office of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment (DARBE) of the African Union Commission, is mandated to support and coordinate the development and utilization of livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and wildlife as resources for both human wellbeing and economic development in the Member States of the African Union. The Vision of the AU-IBAR Strategic Plan 2018-2023 is an Africa in which animal resources contribute significantly to integration, prosperity and peace. The Mandate of AU-IBAR is to support and coordinate the sustainable development and utilisation of animal resources to enhance nutrition and food security and contribute to the well-being and prosperity of the people in the MSs of the AU. As part of it core functions, AU-IBAR initiates and coordinates the implementation of relevant projects and activities in collaboration and cooperation with Member States (MSs), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and development partners. AU-IBAR has successfully implemented numerous projects in close collaboration with various national, regional and international technical and development partners.

To ameliorate enduring constraints that AU Member States face in adopting and implementing evidence-based decision-making in the governance of fisheries and aquaculture, the FishGov2 identified a strategic output to strengthen the capacity of AU stakeholders to access high-quality knowledge products on African fisheries and aquaculture. One of the main pathways underscored is to compile and prepare a biennial report on the current status of the fisheries and aquaculture sector with respect to the implementation of the PFRS policy arenas, guided by indicators for monitoring PFRS implementation. The situation analysis should result in a single, harmonised biennial report. The first biennial African fisheries and aquaculture report was prepared in two parts (Africa North and West by the University of Ibadan, and Africa East and South by Rhodes University) in 2025.

This contracted consultant will prepare and compile a combined biennial status report on fisheries and aquaculture, drawing on the reports prepared for East and South Africa and for North and West Africa. The combined report will constitute the final harmonised Africa Biennial Fisheries and Aquaculture Report.

The drafting of the two biennial studies by the African Union Fisheries and Aquaculture Centres of Excellence was guided by the indicators developed to monitor the implementation of the Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa (PFRS). The PFRS was endorsed by the Joint Ministerial Conference on Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture in 2014. The Honourable Ministers recommended that the AU establish a mechanism to monitor the implementation of the PFRS and to report regularly to Member States. The combined and harmonised report will ensure that the terms PRFS monitoring indicators have been captured and scored as per the main PRFS POLICY ARENAS and CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES comprehensively and consistently.
The PFRS policy arenas and cross-cutting issues are as follows:

Policy Arenas

1. Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use.
2. Small-scale Fisheries Development.
3. Sustainable Aquaculture Development.
4. Responsible and Equitable Fish Trade and Marketing.
5. Strengthened Regional and Sub-regional Cooperation.
6. Awareness Enhancing and Human-Capacity Development.
7. High Seas Fisheries.

Cross-Cutting Policy Issues

1. Strengthening Resilience and Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in African Fisheries and Aquaculture.
2. Gender and Youth.
3. Private Sector Investments & Financing Mechanisms for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa.

A Guide to the Implementation of the PFRS was developed to facilitate and monitor its implementation by AU member states and regional institutions in Africa. The specific objectives of the Guide include the following:

1. To facilitate the domestication of national and regional policies to the PFRS.
2. To monitor the level of implementation of the PFRS.
3. To measure the medium-term and long-term impacts of PFRS in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

Objectives of the Consultancy

The overall objective of the FishGov2 project is ‘To enhance the contribution of fisheries resources to food security and economic development in Africa’. A major strategic objective of the project is to ensure ‘African Union decisions on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture policies are evidence-based’;
Based on the foregoing, the objective of this contract is to compile and prepare a single harmonised biennial status report on the implementation of the PFRS policy arenas for the development of African fisheries and aquaculture, covering the South and Eastern regions of Africa over four years.

The purposes of this contract are as follows:

1. Review, harmonise and combine the biennial reports for Africa North and West by the University of Ibadan and Africa East and South by Rhodes University.
2. Perform a due diligence and gap analysis to identify ongoing and completed projects and programmes in fisheries, aquaculture and related disciplines to collect and generate information on key outcomes of interventions with respect to the implementation of PFRS policy arenas and the indicators.
3. Harmonise and update the scoring of PFRS indicators between the two reports to ensure that scores are standardised and benchmarked against supporting documentary evidence. Where evidence or documentary references are lacking in the reports, research will be conducted to provide up-to-date, relevant supporting documentation.
4. Based on the data and analyses, we formulate recommendations for evidence-based decision-making on policies and regulations for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.
5. Facilitate stakeholders’ validation workshops on the Africa fisheries and aquaculture reports in advance of presentation to the sectoral committee on fisheries and aquaculture and STC-ARDWE.
6. Recommend mechanisms to facilitate the utilization and implementation of recommendations in the African fisheries and aquaculture report.

Expected Outputs / Deliverables of the Consultancy

It is expected that the following will be achieved under this assignment:

Result 1: Biennial report on the current status of implementation of PFRS, analysis and synthesis of key thematic issues with respect to the Policy Arenas of the PFRS.
Result 2: Biennial Report of African fisheries and aquaculture, incorporating recommendations and policy messages for sustainable fisheries and responsible aquaculture development.
Result 3: Continental stakeholders’ validation workshops facilitated.

Duty Station

This contract will largely be performed remotely from the contractor’s or expert’s home-base, with possible travel to present and validate the final draft report.

Criteria For Scoring

Criteria	Scores (%)
Qualifications	25
General Experience	30
Specific Experience	30
Other skills	15
Total	100

Gender Mainstreaming

The AU Commission is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Time frame

The assignment will be conducted for a period of 02 months. The assignment will start immediately after both parties sign the contract.
Competences and experience

Qualifications

• A minimum postgraduate degree in fisheries, aquaculture, or a related discipline such as biological sciences.
• Qualifications in aquatic environmental sciences and related policy planning and development in aquatic sciences will be considered an advantage.

General experience

The consultant should have:

1. Demonstrable track record of experience in knowledge transfer and conducting related studies.
2. Proven experience with the production of scientific publications relating to enhancing knowledge on and strengthening governance of fisheries, aquaculture and blue economy.
3. Experience in policy formulation and supporting AU member states for informed decision-making in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
4. Experience working with national, regional, continental and international institutions or stakeholders with mandates in fisheries, aquaculture or related disciplines.
5. Key expert was a leading contributor to either of the two Centre of Excellence Biennial reports for East and South, and North and West Africa, respectively.
6. A high level of proficiency in spoken and written capability in one or more African Union Official Languages.
7. Evidence of familiarisation of governance issues in fisheries, aquaculture, including but not limited to small-scale fisheries development, responsible aquaculture development, high seas fisheries, fish trade development, institutional collaboration and regional cooperation, climate change, environmental challenges.
8. Knowledge of and evidence of good understanding of continental and global best practices for fisheries and aquaculture development.
9. Evidence of having undertaken related consultancies, data collection or investigations on behalf of partners’ organisations, including the EU, the World Bank, etc., in the last 5 years.
10. Experience in Co-management systems and evidence of engaging stakeholders in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Africa.

Specific Experience

1. Demonstrated evidence in supporting fisheries and aquaculture strategy formulation for AU member states and regional institutions.
2. Evidence of in-depth knowledge on AU policy instruments supporting fisheries, aquaculture and blue economy development.
3. Recording of experience on conducting monitoring and evaluation in natural resources governance systems.
4. Evidence of knowledge of global initiatives and related regimes or frameworks or related reports on fisheries and aquaculture.
5. Proven evidence of supporting implementation of global best practices for governance of fisheries and aquaculture in Africa.
6. Demonstrated capacity for assessment and publication of scientific papers, books, and undertaken editorial work on issues relating to policy issues of fisheries and aquaculture in Africa.

Remuneration

The consultant will be paid a lump sum amount of USD 15,000.00. The consultancy fees will be paid upon satisfactory completion and delivery of the expected outputs. No other payments will be made in respect of this assignment in this period.

Supervision

AU-IBAR shall manage this contract. Activities will be supervised by the Senior Fisheries Officer at AU-IBAR, who shall also be responsible for reviewing and approving reports and deliverables under this contract.

Disclaimer

All data, information and reports generated from the consultancy are the intellectual property of AU-IBAR.

How to Apply

Submission of Applications

Applications should be submitted via email to: procurement@au-ibar.org  with a copy to: wenceslas.tobo@au-ibar.org and should include the title “Biennial Status Report on Fisheries & Aquaculture – Harmonising Regional Reports” in the email subject line.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING

i.    Detailed curriculum vitae (CV) and brief cover letter.
ii.    Copies of academic and professional certification documents.
iii.    Declaration on exclusion criteria (see format attached).
iv.    Identification documents.

A Personal Data Protection and Privacy Statement is attached for the applicants’ information.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Applications should be submitted to the address given above by 4th May 2026 at 23:45hrs Nairobi Local Time.