UNDP Jobs - 27638- National Consultancy: Development of a Capacity De

National Consultancy: Development of a Capacity Development Action Plan for the Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) project for the Mbale region of Uganda

Location :

Mbale Region, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

06-Feb-2012

Application Deadline :

23-Jan-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

45 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Background
The Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) project for the Mbale region of Uganda is being implemented by UNDP and benefits from financial support provided by the Danish Embassy, DFID and UNDP, as well as from technical and development support provided by the Welsh Assembly Government. This is pilot project for the UNDP-UNEP Global Initiative, “Down to Earth: Territorial Approach to Climate Change” The project will provide a coordinated mitigation and adaptation plan to combat the negative impacts of climate change in three districts (Mbale, Manafwa and Bududa) of the Mbale region of Uganda. The project will help to enable the Mbale region realize low carbon and climate change resilient development. Towards this objective, the project will assist the region to develop their Integrated Territorial Climate Plan (ITCP), which will integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies into regional development planning. This will include developing a policy and investment plan that will identify appropriate regulatory and financial instruments for the implementation of the actions that have been selected by the ITCP and assist the region to access, combine and sequence a variety of financial resources needed to implement the ITCP.

The project outputs include:

A platform for climate change planning and programming;
Capacity built to integrate climate change issues into regional development plans and actions;
An Integrated Territorial Climate Plan (ITCP) for the Mbale region;
A climate change policy and investment package formulated;
Synthesis and dissemination (within and beyond Uganda) of lessons learned and best practices.

Of particular relevance to this consultancy is the widely accepted analysis that climate change affects men and women (and also the young) differently. Adolescent girls and adult women have a key role of looking after households. They spend long hours in search of water and firewood, even longer in times of drought - depriving them of time for other productive economic activities. During floods, water- and sanitation-related diseases are more prevalent, which affects women as they spend more time attending to sick family members, predisposing them to increased health risks and reduced income generation. Women are disproportionately killed or displaced in natural disasters, as they tend to remain longer in homesteads trying to protect them.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will:

Compile a comprehensive inventory of regional development priorities and initiatives;
Undertake institutional and individual capacity needs assessments towards low carbon and climate change resilient development across the Mbale region (Bududa, Manafwa, Mbale);
Develop a capacity development plan to guide building capacity at all levels in Mbale region to effectively integrate climate change issues into development plans and actions (to be used by the team working on consultancy 4).

The information collection and consultations for the inventory of regional development priorities and initiatives should be undertaken at community, district, regional and national levels. The inventory should identify recently completed (since 2005), on-going and planned development initiatives and catalogue the main agreed development priorities for the three districts.
The capacity needs assessment should also be undertaken at community, district, regional and national levels and will: identify the skills sets required to realize the low-carbon and climate change resilient development in Mbale region and assess the currently existing skills among various stakeholders in the region and identify critical capacity gaps at the systematic, institutional and individual levels to promote low carbon and climate change resilient development in the region.
The inventory of regional development priorities and initiatives, capacity needs assessment and consequent capacity development plan must mainstream gender, particularly as men and women face different challenges and risks related to climate change adaptation and mitigation. It is therefore important that the consultant establish these different challenges in the capacity needs assessment and designs the capacity development plan based on their divergent needs.

Specific areas where gaps have already been identified (including in the C4 EcoSolutions April 2011 report to the project) include:

Awareness of the predicted future impacts of increasing weather variability and climate change in the territory of Mbale;
Awareness of adaptation and mitigation options, including:
Awareness of opportunities to adjust crop varieties / types / systems (including different rice varieties and the multiple win-win benefits of agroforestry);
Awareness of the benefits of fuel-efficient wood stoves, domestic biogas systems;
Awareness of water rights and the potential benefits of rainwater harvesting;
Skills in building fuel-efficient stoves and rainwater collection vessels;
Land management options for weather-related disaster risk reduction (reducing landslide risk), climate-proofing infrastructure etc.
Expertise in bringing carbon projects to market (CDM or voluntary);
Implementing carbon market tree planting regimes, monitoring, reporting and verification MRV etc.
Importance of by-law enforcement (e.g. wetland protection, bush burning, cultivation near water courses).

The consultant should subsequently design a plan to build up the existing capacity to fill the identified gaps. This is anticipated to include:

Improving institutional and individual capacity to address and integrate climate change issues into regional development planning and actions at all levels;
Strengthening the capacity of planners and decision makers in Mbale region towards climate change resilient and low-carbon development, particularly to take into consideration that men and women face different challenges and risks related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, thus have divergent needs;
Assisting planners and decision makers to identify climate change concerns and how to integrate them into the development planning processes within the region based on the available climate and climate change related information (e.g. GHG emissions inventory, annual and seasonal weather variability forecasts, risk and vulnerability assessments and mapping);
Providing for hands on experience in developing and analysing development options to meet the short, medium and long-term development objectives of Mbale region and making decisions including climate change considerations;
Strengthening the planning capacity within the region through introducing financial and legal instruments to planners and decision makers to customise for the region during the development of the climate policy and investment package;
Strengthening the capacity of the communities in Mbale region to implement a climate change small grants scheme designed to support the implementation of community-level activities that may result in climate change mitigation and/or adaptation impacts;
Raising awareness of the potential impacts of increasing weather variability on households and low-cost adaptation options.

The consultant should particularly consider the win-win benefits of focusing at least some capacity development on the education sector, for example on teachers, as there would be clear multiplier benefits for the project’s limited budget.

Tasks that the consultant will undertake include (but are not limited to) the following:

Interview relevant stakeholders inter alia: a) the District Local Governments of Mbale, Bududa and Manafwa; b) National Government Ministries, departments and agencies such as Ministry of Water and Environment, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Agriculture, Uganda Wildlife Authority, National Environment Management Authority, National Forestry Authority, National Climate Change Unit; c) relevant NGOs and CBOs (such as the Mbale Coalition Against Poverty); d) appropriate private sector representatives; e) project managers/representatives of other relevant ongoing projects, programmes or initiatives related to climate change adaptation and mitigation (including the MERECP, other donors and Uganda Carbon Bureau); f) the Project Board, ITCP Steering Committee and Regional Climate Change Forum and; g) research organizations / institutions within the region and outside the region such as Buginyanya Zonal Agricultural Research Institute and universities; and h) community members within the project area to identify existing capacity and assess capacity gaps / requirements as part of the capacity needs assessment exercise;
Review the partnerships and networks available for the Mbale TACC project (inter alia Welsh Assembly Government, the Global TACC Facility and the Global Programme-CLIMSAT) and recommend technical support that can be provided from these partnerships and networks to support building planning capacity to incorporate climate related information into regional development planning process;
Develop and draft the Inventory of Regional Development Priorities and Initiatives in line with the format that will be agreed on during the course of the activity and submit it to the Project Management Unit and partners for review;
Finalise the Inventory of Regional Development Priorities and Initiatives;
Develop and draft the Capacity Needs Assessment that meets the objectives stated above and in line with the format that will be agreed on during the course of the activity and submit it to the Project Management Unit and partners;
Finalise the Capacity Needs Assessment;
Develop a draft Capacity Development Plan that prioritizes and recommends targeted training and awareness-raising activities as urgent capacity requirements in order to ensure the minimum capabilities needed for the Integrated Territorial Climate Change planning and implementation is present. [This should be in line with the format that will be agreed on during the course of the activity and submit it to the Project Management Unit and partners for review];
Present the Capacity Development Plan (after any revisions requested by the PMU) to key stakeholders at a workshop (PMU will organise the workshop – consultant to facilitate) and seek consensus on major outcomes of capacity needs assessment and recommendations;
Integrate any comments from stakeholders and submit a final Capacity Development Plan to the Project Management Unit.

The consultant(s) should work closely with the Project Manager / ITCP Steering Committee / Mbale Regional Climate Change Forum, the Senior Technical Advisor, experts at the Global TACC Facility also the consultants working on other elements of the project.The consultant(s)will particularly benefit from contributions from an expert from Wales in all aspects of these tasks.

The results of the work will be incorporated into the Integrated Territorial Climate Plan (ITCP) (consultancy 4) and the CC Policy and Investment Packageof the Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) project in the Mbale region of Uganda.

Competencies

Fluency in written and spoken English;
Ability to communicate effectively in English in order to convey complex technical information to general audiences;
Ability to deliver on time;
Skills in negotiating effectively in sensitive situations;
Skills in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others;
Skills in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently, including the ability to resolve conflicts as they arise.

Required Skills and Experience

Experience:

A postgraduate degree in either natural resources management or environmental sciences from a recognized university with specialization in climate change.

Experience:

Awareness of the predicted impacts of climate change on Uganda’s development across all sectors (inter alia energy, forestry, land use, agriculture, transportation, industry, waste management);
Knowledge of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of emissions standards and guidelines;
Knowledge of the current best practices in supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation;
Knowledge of Uganda's climate change policies, laws, institutions and management issues highly desirable;
Experience in local level climate change issues (adaptation and / or mitigation);
Previous experience undertaking capacity needs assessments;
Strong interpersonal and written communication skills;
Practical experience that includes development of capacity development plans to achieve climate change resilient and low-carbon development;
At least 6-8 years relevant work experience;
Experience in UNDP project development is considered advantageous.

Language:

Fluency and excellent command of written and spoken English is a necessity.

Application Procedure

Applicants are required to submit an application and proposals, which include the following:

Job Proposal:

Letter of Interest.
Explanation as to why you consider yourself suitable for the assignment
A brief methodology on the approach and implementation of the assignment.

Personal CV Highlighting past experience in similar projects. Work references - contact details (e-mail addresses) of referees.

Financial proposal indicating consultancy fee, lump sum fee or unit price together with any other expenses related to the assignment (e.g. travel costs, translation interpretation, holding of workshops/focus group discussion etc).

Please note that the system will only allow you to upload one document, therefore all the job and financial proposals are to be attached to the CVs and uploaded together at once.