Background
Ethiopia has elected to participate in the national preparatory process in advance of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to take place in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.
In this connection, UNDESA is planning to support multi-stakeholder consultations in advance of the Rio+20 conference. As part of the consultative process UNDESA will conduct a national consultative workshop in Ethiopia. The intention is to build national capacity to engage more fully in the Rio+20 process as well as to ensure continuing efforts to implement the outcomes of the conference. Participants at the workshop will be drawn from Government, NGOs, private sector, and donor organizations.
The national preparation process consists of three consecutive and interlinked phases. All three phases contribute to the preparation of an output document while building capacity on the issues.
- the preparation of a stocktaking report based on interviews, consultations and desk review; This consultant will provide the review of the agriculture sector.
- a multi-stakeholder meeting addresses the issues of the UNCSD; and
- the outcomes of both the stocktaking report and multi-stakeholder meeting are captured in sections of the national report.
Duties and Responsibilities
Consultant Activities
Under the overall direction of UNDESA, and guidance of the National CSD Focal Point the contracted Consultant will undertake, in collaboration with a lead consultant the following activities:
A) Prepare the stocktaking report
For the preparation of the agriculture sector including livestock, stocktaking report the national consultant will conduct interviews and consultations with national stakeholders starting and ending with the national CSD focal point. A lead consultant will provide the overall structured and integrated approach for the national stocktaking report and communication to the UNCSD. Through this consultative process, the consultant obtains relevant contextual information from a number of stakeholders in government and national Major Groups and donor organizations. Furthermore, relevant documentation of national strategies, plans, policies, capacity needs assessments, and practical experiences will be reviewed and synthesized by the consultant. A set of guiding questions is in Annex 1.
From this process the consultant will prepare a 10-20 page agriculture sector stocktaking report that will feed into the discussions to take place during the multi-stakeholder meeting.
B) Conduct Multi-stakeholder consultative meeting
Based on the agriculture stocktaking reports, a multi-stakeholder meeting will be organized by the project team to discuss and move towards consensus on a national assessment of progress, remaining gaps, experiences and opportunities pertaining to the themes of the UNCSD. In addition, this key phase in the national preparation process has the intent to build the capacity of relevant national institutions to engage in the regional and global preparation processes and implement outcomes of the UNCSD.
Success of the consultative meeting will highly depend on active participation of the attendees. Therefore, it is imperative to invite knowledgeable and senior representatives of the following stakeholder groups to the meeting:
- Environmental Protection Authority, Ministry of Finance and Economy Development , Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Energy and Water as appropriate representatives from other ministries and commissions;
- International and national financial institutions (e.g. national development banks, commercial banks); and
- organizations representing Major Groups such as women, farmers, youth, trade unions and others.
The consultant will participate in the workshop in Ethiopia. The date and venue have yet to be determined.
Consultant will participate as a presenter and discussant in the 2-day meeting. The consultant will submit the draft paper to UNDESA for review and incorporate comments provided by UNDESA.
The consultant will deliver to UNDESA, UNDP and EPA the following:
1) Further elaboration of this ToR and agreement with EPA and UNDP … to be completed within 1 week after signing of the contract.
2) Interim analysis and background as available 15 February 2012
3) Workshop shall be held by the end of February or beginning of March. Workshop proceedings (report) – completed and submitted 2 weeks after the workshop;
National Sustainable Development Strategy Report to be completed 30 March 2012.
Competencies
The Consultant should have proven strong written and communications skills, be fluent in English.
The stocktaking report could describe the context of green economy and national institutional framework for sustainable development based on the following questions:
- Has your country supported any of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements? Please list and provide details on responsible institution/Ministry, effect on policies and planning.
- What actions have been introduced in your country to strengthen political support for sustainable development? E.g. has the support to MEAs lead to sustainable development to be mainstreamed into development policies and planning?
- Has your country introduced or promoted integrated planning and decision making for sustainable development? If so, under what title (NSDS, PRSP, Five Year Plan, NCS or NEAP, other)? What are the lessons from this experience?
- Are there specific industry sectors or resource areas (e.g., water, energy, biodiversity, transport, other) where national political commitment to achieve sustainable development goals has been especially strong? If so, what factors explain that commitment?
- Has your government (national and local) been actively involved in developing and/or implementing local agendas 21? If so, where? What have the achievements been so far?
- What institutions have been developed for sustainable development in your country? Have changes been made to existing institutions in this context?
- Have the Ministry of Finance/Ministry of Planning or important line ministries been engaged in public policy and planning for sustainable development? Is there for instance coordination across Planning, Health, Environment, Transport, Energy agencies on transport and land use?
1.
- What new and emerging challenges are likely to affect the prospects for sustainable development in the coming decade? What mechanisms have been put in place in your country to address these challenges: At the local level? At the national level?
- Is there a consensus among policy makers in your country on the meaning of the term green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication? If so, how is it defined?
- What would green economy mean in your country? Are there studies for your country that identify success factors, challenges or risks associated with green economy policies identified? Have green economy actions been taken so far in your country?
These questions as well as any reporting on the CSD themes (Agriculture, Transport, Energy, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Land degradation, Water) could be used to draft the stocktaking report.
Guiding questions for the Synthesis Report Annex 2
In addition to responding to the questions that were already addressed in the stocktaking exercise, a set of questions on the institutional framework and on the potential for green economy to enhance sustainable development are suggested here.
Sessions regarding the institutional framework could address the following questions:
- Has your country or parts of your country introduced or promoted integrated planning and decision making for sustainable development? If so, under what title (National Sustainable Development Strategies, PRSP, Five Year Plan, NCS or NEAP, Other)? What are the lessons from this experience?
- What factors explain progress in implementation (economic growth, investment in technical and institutional capacity, other)?
- Is the technical assistance from UN system entities a key factor in explaining success? If so, in what areas or sectors (e.g., MDGs, water, energy, transport, health, agriculture, biodiversity, forests, climate change, jobs, other)?
- How can international cooperation strengthen support for sustainable development? What are your expectations for UNCSD in this regard?
- What are the main difficulties experienced in promoting integrated planning and decision-making?
- Looking forward to ~2030, what are your government’s / organization's highest priorities for accelerating progress towards sustainable development?
- What new and emerging challenges are likely to affect the prospects for sustainable development in the coming decade? Do the new and emerging challenges pose a fundamental risk to the prospects of economic growth and development in your country? What new and emerging challenges should the UNCSD enact upon?
- What mechanisms have been put in place in your country to address these challenges: At the local level? At the national level?
Sessions regarding green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication could address the following questions:
- Are the Millennium Development Goals established in Johannesburg and sustainable development themes going back to Rio in 1992 adequately addressing national needs?
- Is there a consensus among policy makers in your country on the meaning of the term green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication? If so, how is it defined?
- What are the main perceived benefits of implementing a national/regional green economy strategy? Are these benefits being tracked, measured and reported?
- Based on all of the above, what is (are) the key outcome(s) you think could emerge from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 with respect to a ‘green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication’?
UNDESA contacts:
[Latin America and Caribbean:
Thomas Hamlin, Technical Adviser, Division for Sustainable Development, hamlin@un.org
Required Skills and Experience
The consultant(s) should be nationally recognised with 5 years experience in the fields of sustainable energy and transport development4. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL
(ii) Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable)
3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references
Financial proposal: indicate Lump sum
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 point and above would be considered for the Financial Evaluation
| Criteria | Weight | Max. Point |
| Technical (based on CV, Proposal and Interview) | | |
| Minimum educational background and work experience (CV) | 10% | 10 |
| Understanding of scope of work and methodology (From Proposal) | 20% | 20 |
| Individual Competencies (Interview or Desk review) | 40% | 40 |
| | | |
| Financial | 30% | 30 |