Consultant for Strengthening Ethical and Deforestation-Free Supply Chains through Supplier Company Engagement, Ketapang

Posting Details

Job Details

Description

About the Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international nonprofit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. We are building an alliance to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote their human rights, and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. We envision a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

For more information, please visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/about.

Overview

Palm oil production plays a critical role in supporting rural economies and providing livelihoods for smallholder farmers, workers, and forest-dependent communities. Across many production landscapes, the sector contributes significantly to employment generation, household income, and local economic development.

Despite these contributions, unsustainable production and sourcing practices continue to pose serious environmental and social risks. These include deforestation, ecosystem conversion, peatland degradation, biodiversity loss, weak supply chain traceability, land tenure conflicts, and potential human rights violations. Such challenges not only threaten environmental integrity and community well-being but also create reputational, regulatory, and market risks for companies operating within the sector.

At the same time, global market expectations are rapidly evolving. Buyers, investors, financial institutions, and regulators increasingly require companies to demonstrate transparent, responsible, and deforestation-free sourcing practices. Compliance with sustainability standards, due diligence regulations, and environmental and social safeguards has become a prerequisite for maintaining market access and competitiveness. Companies that fail to meet these requirements risk losing business opportunities and investor confidence.

Supplier companies particularly palm oil mills occupy a strategic position within the supply chain. As aggregation and purchasing points, mills influence sourcing decisions and production practices at both farm and landscape levels. Their policies, procurement standards, and monitoring systems directly affect whether upstream suppliers adopt sustainable practices. Strengthening mill-level capacity is therefore a key leverage point for driving systemic improvements across the entire supply chain.

However, many mills still face gaps in technical capacity, policy frameworks, and practical tools to translate sustainability commitments into operational procedures. The Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi) provides internationally recognized guidance that supports companies in setting credible commitments, implementing responsible sourcing systems, and monitoring compliance related to no deforestation, no ecosystem conversion, and respect for human rights.

Through structured guidance, capacity building, and technical assistance, this activity will support selected supplier companies to adopt AFi-based

approaches, strengthen internal policies and systems, and operationalize ethical sourcing practices. Ultimately, this initiative aims to promote transparent and responsible supply chains that contribute to sustainable land management and improved livelihoods for farmers and forest communities

Consultancy Scope of Work

Main Objectives

This activity aims to enable selected mills to adopt ethical and deforestation- free sourcing practices, strengthen supply chain transparency and traceability, and promote sustainable land management

Activities

Strengthening Ethical and Deforestation-Free Supply Chains through Supplier Company Engagement, Ketapang, with specific activities:

• Identify and prioritize target mills/supplier companies based on risk and readiness criteria
• Develop practical, user-friendly AFi-based guidance materials and tools
• Conduct orientation workshops and technical training on ethical and deforestation free sourcing principles
• Facilitate company self-assessments and policy/ practice gap analyses
• Provide tailored technical assistance and one-on-one coaching
• Support the development of corrective action and improvement plans
• Assist companies in revising policies, SOPs, and monitoring systems
• Monitor progress, document commitments, and capture lessons learned

 

Duration & Stages

The study is planned to be conducted over a period of six (6) months and will consist of the following stages:

• Collection of secondary data based on identified gap analysis reports in accordance with the AFi framework.
• Company policies, SOPs, and commitment statements, along with action plans, implementation progress reports, and traceability and supplier monitoring records.
• Report writing, validation of results, and formulation of recommendations.

Methodology

The study methodology uses a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative) with the following steps:

• Target Identification and Prioritization

Identify and prioritize target mills and supplier companies based on risk and readiness criteria.

• Development of Technical Guidance

Develop practical, user-friendly AFi-based guidance materials and tools tailored to company needs.

• Capacity Building

Conduct orientation workshops and technical training on ethical and deforestation-free sourcing principles.

• Self-Assessment and Gap Analysis

Facilitate company self-assessments to identify gaps between current practices and AFi requirements.

• Tailored Technical Assistance

Provide customized technical support and one-on-one coaching to address specific company challenges.

• Corrective Action Planning

Support companies in developing corrective action and continuous improvement plans.

• Policy and System Strengthening

Assist companies in revising policies, SOPs, and monitoring systems in line with sustainability commitments.

• Monitoring and Learning

Monitor progress, document company commitments, and capture lessons learned for continuous improvement.

 

Main Output(s)

Document on Strengthening Ethical and Deforestation-Free Supply Chains through Supplier Company Engagement, Ketapang, containing Selected mills adopt and apply AFi guidance to assess, strengthen, and improve their policies, systems, and operational practices in support of ethical, deforestation-free supply chains.

 

Deliverables

· Training attendance lists and workshop reports

· AFi-based supply chain gap analysis.

31 May 2026

· Company policies, SOPs, and commitment statements

· Action plans and implementation progress reports

· Traceability and supplier monitoring records

31 August 2026

· MoUs or endorsement letters from participating mills

· Field monitoring documentation and photos

· Periodic project reports and independent evaluation

31 October 2026

General Terms and Conditions for Request for Proposal

• Applicants must provide all requisite information under this RFP and clearly and concisely respond to all points set out in this RFP. Any proposal, which does not fully and comprehensively address this RFP, may be rejected.
• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by RA.
• Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
• RA reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.
• It is the responsibility of every bidder to identify any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in its proposal so that it may be handled accordingly. However, RA cannot guarantee confidentiality.

Selection Criteria and qualifications

The consultant or consultant firm should comply with the following qualifications:

• The consultant or consulting firm that can legally work in Indonesia.
• The consultant consisted of one team leader and several team members with relevant experience and expertise such as supply chain, traceability, smallholder inclusion, multi-stakeholder processes, spatial analysis, and regulatory & standards framework for palm oil sector.
• Proven track record of good writing skills and ability to produce reports and maps.
• Working experience in West Kalimantan province, Indonesia.
• The consultant is well-versed in the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi) and has in-depth knowledge of the operations and practices of palm oil companies and mills.

Selection of the consultant or consultant firm is based on the following criteria:

Technical proposal

40%

Qualifications

25%

Past performance

15%

Financial proposal

20%

Proposal Process and Format

Interested consultants or consultant firms should submit their proposal including the following:

• Statutory Requirements

Upon request, the consultant should supply all required legal documents as may be required by RA and/or local law, e.g. work permit, bank details, registration details, tax documents etc. When opportunity is restricted to a specific location, only candidates authorized to work in the location will be considered.

• Technical proposal requirements
• Name(s) of consultant or project team (if a consulting firm).
• Current CVs.
• A proposal that includes a technical proposal, at least with a workplan, timeline, approach and methodology for deliverables, as well as financial proposal.
• List of previous engagements that address the above experience desired.
• Contact details of recent references (email and phone number).

• Financial proposal requirements
• A detailed budget complying with the following requirements:
• The budget specifies daily rates and total time specified for each expert.
• All required amounts must be stated in IDR rupiah, including all taxes applicable.

All proposals must be submitted through this platform as an integrated PDF document (only one file). If you experience problems loading information on the platform, try opening it with different browsers. Proposals received after the deadline stated above will not be evaluated.

·   

hziasmono@ra.org

·   

ndarmasari@ra.org

April 20, 2026

Thank you for your interest in working with the Rainforest Alliance

Qualifications

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.