The programme An Ocean of Possibilities runs from 2021-2025. The funding comes from the annual TV fundraiser “TV-Aksjonen” conducted by the Norwegian National Broadcasting Agency (NRK), totalling approximately NOK 240 million, where approximately NOK 200 million has been allocated to four WWF country offices in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as well as an additional external partner operating in Thailand. NOK 50 million of the project funds were donated by the Norwegian government and were granted through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

The programme is designed to contribute to the overall strategic plastic pollution work of WWF, which is divided into three pillars: advocate for policy to manage plastic pollution, build business engagement in reducing plastic pollution, and Plastic Smart Cities, where cities work to reduce their plastic pollution. An Ocean of Possibilities supports nine cities in Southeast Asia to become “Plastic Smart Cities”. Southeast Asia is the region where most plastic leaks into nature each year. Poor waste management in cities is a key source of plastic pollution in the ocean.

The cities covered by the programme are: Bogor, Depok and Jakarta in Indonesia; Manila City in the Philippines; Hat Yai, Koh Samui, Songkla and Surat Thani in Thailand; and Hue in Vietnam.

The overall aim of the programme, and for WWF’s pillar Plastic Smart Cities, is to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30% by 2025 in the target cities. This is done by focusing on four key components: ensuring political buy-in from the municipalities, reducing the use of plastic products, improving collection rates of waste, as well as improving recycling. End-of-life treatment issues such as landfill management play a minor role in the programme. Documenting good practices and learning, and identifying opportunities for scaling and replication, is also considered an important goal for the programme, as well as the Plastic Smart Cities pillar.

The programme has been split in two parts: an inception phase (2021-2022) and an implementation phase (2022-2025). The prior was used to conduct baseline studies, secure political support, build plastic and solid waste management knowledge in the WWF project teams and develop clear result frameworks, action plans and budgets. The implementation phase was initially intended to conclude by the end of 2024 but has been extended until the end of 2025 for the projects in Vietnam and Indonesia, and until March/April 2025 for Thailand and the Philippines. A mid-term review (MTR) of the programme was conducted in 2023.

The methodology used will compare actual results against targets and will be based on the findings and factual statements identified from review of relevant documents i.e. project proposal, results framework, narrative project description, baseline studies, Technical Progress Reports (TPR), Financial Reports (FR), impact/endline assessments for each country project, results inputs to the Plastic Smart Cities monitoring platform, collated lessons learned, and other documents and reports reviewed and produced by the project, as well as site visits to countries of implementation and interviews and discussions with key stakeholders. Participation of stakeholders in the review should be maintained at all times, reflecting opinions, expectations and vision about the contribution of the project towards the achievement of its objectives.

• A brief inception report highlighting the key questions, methodology, timeline, and stakeholder engagement plan;

• Draft reports for the Philippines and Thailand in line with the timeline in point 8;

• Draft endline review as per the report template provided by WWF, for review by programme stakeholders;

• A final endline review (main text excluding summary and annexes not to exceed 25 pages) as per the report template provided by WWF;

• Presentation of the main findings and recommendations to WWF through online meeting(s).

The consultant should work towards the timely submission of the reports. The consultant will be contracted by WWF-Norway. The WWF country offices shall arrange all necessary site visits and meetings in the project sites for the consultant according to the To R, including transportation logistics during the mission. Flight and hotel bookings should be organised by the consultant and costs for this is to be included as part of the bid.

Interested candidates should send their application including resumé and application letter including proposed methodology, suggested cost breakdown not exceeding NOK 600 000, links to previous similar work, and 2-3 references to tender@wwf.no, with Andreas Røise Myhrvold (amyhrvold@wwf.no) in cc, by December 4th, 2024.