Data Standards Consultant for ICGLR Minerals Database – Burundi

Tender: Data Standards Consultant for ICGLR Minerals Database

Defining and refining data sharing

standards for the ICGLR Minerals database

1. Consultant Location Requirements

The Advisor is expected to be based preferably in Bujumbura, Burundi, so as to be close to the ICGLR Secretariat and to have direct contact with key stakeholders.

If the consultant cannot be based in Bujumbura, other locations may be considered, provided they allow for effective communication and coordination with the ICGLR Secretariat and other project partners. The consultant must ensure that he/she can travel to Bujumbura as required for meetings and site visits.

1. Overview

Seeking a consultant to define, refine, review and finalize a separate set of data definitions and standards to be implemented in the ICGLR Minerals database, for which data points should define Member States’ data sharing protocols. In this first phase of the project, all data standards relating to the ICGLR Export Certificates and ICGLR Summary Audit Documents for 3TG should be finalized.

1. Context

About IMPACT

IMPACT transforms the way natural resources are managed where security and human rights are at risk. We research and develop approaches to natural resource management to improve security, development and equity. IMPACT is an independent, non-profit organisation that works with local partners to create lasting change.

IMPACT is headquartered in Canada with offices in Burundi, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire, and projects in Mali and Zimbabwe. Learn more at www.impacttransform.org

Project specific information

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is an intergovernmental organisation of the countries of the African Great Lakes Region, consisting of 12 member states: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. The ICGLR initiative was established as a result of the Pact for Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region (15 December 2006) to combat the persistent problem of illegal exploitation of natural resources in GLR countries.

The ICGLR system for “exploitation, monitoring and verification of natural resources within the Great Lakes region” is defined in the Regional Certification Mechanism and documented in the RCM Manual. As part of this mechanism, a database is to be implemented and managed by the ICGLR regional level, consisting of datasets forwarded by Member States and intended to support regional mineral tracking data queries and reports conducted by the ICGLR. Also referred to as “the Regional Database”.

To keep the ICGLR Secretariat and its regional mineral flows database fully and promptly up-to-date on all ICGLR-relevant mine site inspections, certification data, chain of custody data and export certification data held or intended to be held by the Member State. To ensure that this data exists in a compatible format, all data elements and/or fields and structure should be compatible with the RDBMF, so that importing/sharing of data to the RDBMF can be automatic or at least significantly accelerated.

To achieve this goal, the Regional Database Project needs to develop the final data standards for the initial components of the RDBMF, namely: Mine Site Identifiers, ICGLR Certificate Fields, Commodity Descriptors and Audit Summary Format Fields. These are not the full extent of the final RDBMF data repository, but are considered the initial set for full RDBMF proof-of-concept. The remaining fields of the full RDBMF data repository will be the subject of the next phase of this project, once this initial phase proves viable.

With this aim in mind, a significant amount of work has already been done in the first phase of the RDBMF project, which can be found in the reference document: “Detailed Requirements Specification for the Regional Database of Mineral Flows (RDBMF), October 2016.”

1. Objective and scope of the work

For this first iteration of the RDBMF (Mine site identifiers, ICGLR Certificates, Commodity descriptors and Audit summaries) the RCM datasets related to these components need to be finalised. Please note that export parties are covered in the ICGLR certificate dataset, as part of the CoC, and exporters themselves are the CoC actors receiving the ICGLR certificates, and are thus covered in this dataset. Similarly, Mine site identifiers are. Although at this stage the full mine site data is not included, the mine site identifiers are required to allow for consistent identification of these sites across all Member States.

RCM datasets related to the CoC, including lots, CoC actors, CoC nodes, lot-to-lot associations (e.g. a combination of lots), node-to-node links (links in the CoC), CoC actors, i.e. miners, traders, transporters, processors, exporters, etc., are not included in this iteration of the data standards and will be the subject of the next phase of this project, once this first phase proves viable.

In preparation for this consultancy, ICGLR will obtain input, via a questionnaire and other appropriate data collection tools, from Member States on the final dataset for Phase 1, as well as the results of any existing standardisation efforts, to ensure alignment of the results. The questions can be found in Annex 1.

1. Deliveries

Available product 1:

• Review all relevant documentation of the RDBMF in detail and identify the elements relevant to this advice. Documents listed in Appendix 2.

Available product 2:

• Submit a monthly progress report.
• Answer any questions the project manager may have.

Available product 3:

• Define the detailed required data fields of the regional database, as the first part of the final regional database for the ICGLR. This includes:
  • Unified Mine Site Identifications
  • Standard ICGLR Certificate Fields
  • Uniform product descriptions
  • Summary Audit Fields
• Validate the completeness of the required data fields by the Technical Working Group members.

Available product 4:

• Create a final report with the final standardized data taxonomy for all fields identified under Outcome 3.
• Validate the completeness of this report by the project team members working on the technical implementation of the RDBMF.

1. Timeline

Activities

Period

Responsible

Approval of ToR for Data Standards Consultancy

August 29, 2024

ICGLR and TC

Deadline for submitting an advisory proposal

September 31, 2024

Consultant

Completion of the work and submission of the Consultant Report

October 31, 2024

Consultant

1. Profile required

The consultant will need a strong background in information management, data architecture and analysis, and computer science. Knowledge of PostgreSQL (the codebase of the current version of the RDBMF) ​​is a big plus. Fluent written and spoken English is a requirement, with written and spoken French highly desirable.