UNDP Jobs - 48848- National Consultant to Develop Principles to be Em

National Consultant to Develop Principles to be Embedded in the Legislation for Production and Marketing of Charcoal

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

22-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

42 Workling Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

42 Workling Days

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

In Uganda, there is no specific law applicable to the charcoal sub-sector. This has had adverse implications on sustainable charcoal production in the country, thus the need to develop a law to govern the operations and activities in the charcoal industry.

The cattle corridor of Uganda has experienced dramatic land and vegetation degradation driven by a combination of inappropriate land use (agricultural encroachment into reserves) and the weakening of pastoralism as a production system. These are in turn driven by high population growth, high dependence on natural resources coupled with poor resource management, and poor economic development, poverty and more recently climate change. Pastoralism is the main economic activity in the corridor.

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is implementing the project "Enabling environment for sustainable land management (SLM) to overcome land degradation in some of Uganda’s Cattle Corridor Districts, namely Kamuli and Nakasongola.

The overall goal of the project is Sustainable Land Management providing the basis for economic development, food security and sustainable livelihoods while restoring the ecological integrity of the Cattle Corridor ecosystem. The objective of the project is to provide land users and managers with the enabling policy, institutional and capacity environment for effective adoption of SLM within the complexity of the cattle corridor production system. This objective will be achieved through strengthening the policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks to support sustainable land and charcoal management in the cattle corridor, use of Knowledge as a basis for land use planning and improvement of dryland farming and pastoralism, and, facilitation of Local economic development through diversification and access to finance and insurance.

Whereas charcoal is a strong business in the cattle corridor, the charcoal industry is challenged by inadequate legislation and the fact that charcoal is used widely but it remains an illegal business. There is no established methodology for taxing charcoal, the levies and other local government taxes are not properly reflected in the final price for charcoal and there is no framework for ploughing back the revenue to the charcoal industry. The current regulation of charcoal is under the Forestry Support Department of Ministry of Water and environment, which needs to be reviewed as well, so that a single champion for the development and management of legislation on charcoal is highlighted.

Objective of assignment:

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop principles to be embedded in the legislation for charcoal production and trade and to develop a methodology for channeling tax revenue from charcoal production into tree planting and other more sustainable practices in the industry. The Study will provide guidelines on taxation of charcoal and the utilization of that revenue to ensure that charcoal production is sustainable.
The specific aim of this consultancy is to:

Support development of the law to regulate charcoal production and trade;
Develop guidelines on taxation of charcoal; and
Develop a methodology for channeling revenue from charcoal taxation into tree planting and other more sustainable industries.

The project stakeholders include farmers, in this case particularly charcoal producers and traders, who are the direct beneficiaries, government agencies namely; The MAAIF, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD), the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development (MLUD), Nakasongola and Kamuli district local governments and the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) who are the implementers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

The geographical scope of this consultancy is national because the intention is to develop a law and guidelines on taxation of charcoal in the country but the specific project areas are Kamuli and Nakasongola districts. Data and consultations shall be collected from these two districts. It is expected that the assignment shall be completed in a period of 3 months starting August, 2014.

The Consultant will be expected to perform the following specific tasks:

Review documentation relevant for development of the law to regulate production and trade in charcoal, the guidelines on taxation of charcoal and methodology for channeling charcoal revenue into more sustainable production activities, more specifically the charcoal regulations developed by MWE;
Identify the key specific areas along the charcoal value chain for which legislation is necessary and propose principles to be embodied in the charcoal law;
Consult relevant stakeholders at all levels including national and district, charcoal producers, landlords and traders;
Present the draft principles, guidelines and methodologies for validation in a national stakeholder workshop;
Produce a policy brief to guide the way forward on the next steps after packaging the principles to be embedded in the law.

Deliverables/ Outputs:

An inception report explaining the approaches, schedules of the detailed activities and expected time of delivery of the assignment. Estimated duration 2 days
Draft principles to be embedded in the Charcoal law. Estimated duration 10 days
Draft Guidelines on taxation accruing from documentary review and stakeholder consultations. Estimated duration 10 days.
Draft methodology on channeling charcoal revenue into other production lines. Estimated duration 10 days.
Presentation of drafts (2,3 and 4) above for stakeholder validation. Estimated duration 1 day.
Policy briefs on the Guidelines, and principles and the next steps. Estimated duration 5 days.
Final versions of the principles, guidelines and methodologies, and policy brief(s) submitted. Estimated duration 5 days.

Working Arrangements:

Institutional Arrangements

The Consultant shall report to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) through the Commissioner, Renewable Energy and will work closely with and supervised by the SLM steering committee. The Project Management Unit (PMU) in MAAIF shall monitor progress against planned activities/deliverables and report to UNDP. Disbursement of funds from UNDP to the Consultant shall be made upon receipt of certification from MEMD. The Consultant shall liaise with District Natural Resources, District Forestry, Environment, and Land officers, SLM coordinators, and district planners and will report to the UNDP Country Director on all contractual obligations.

Duration of the Assignment

The assignment is planned to take 42 working days, effective 01 September, 2014.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

Mature judgment and initiative;
Ability to think out-of-the-box;
Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner;
Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
Initiative and independence;
Analytic capacitKnowledge and experience in natural resources management and environment will be an added advantage.y and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines including economics, finance, development and conservation.

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters Degree in Law with a bias in environment sciences/economics, and related fields from a recognized and reputable institution.

Experience:

A solid track record development of laws, with at least 7 years of experience in policy analysis;
The Consultant must have undertaken similar or related assignment in Uganda in the last 5 years;
Knowledge and experience in natural resources management and environment will be an added advantage;
Familiar with socio-economic set up of charcoal producing communities and the charcoal sub-sector in general in Uganda;
Demonstrated experience of working with government agencies and local communities, and developing policy briefs will be an added advantage; and
Publications in the field of law or environmental science (including at a working level) in areas relevant to the assignment will be an asset.

Language:

Fluency in English.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Payment shall be by the lump sum modality in the following 3 instalments. These shall be all inclusive and the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components

Upon completion of deliverable one 20%;
Upon completion of deliverable two and three3, 35%;
Upon completion of deliverable four 35%;
Upon completion of deliverable five six and seven 10%.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight; - 70%;
Financial Criteria weight; - 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points

Criteria

Education (Advanced degree) - 10;
Knowledge and experience in rural resource management- 15;
Relevant experience in conducting similar assignments - 1;
Relevance of experience in report writing and drafting - 10;
Description of approach/methodology to assignment - 20;

Application procedure:

The consultant is required to submit an on line application with the documents/information in one single PDF document:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Technical proposal:

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II).

For further information, please email Diana.nabbanja@undp.org and copy justine.naiga-bagonza@undp.org .

Annexes:

Annex I: Individual Contractor General Terms and Conditions;
Annex II: Template to Confirmation of Interest and Availability and Submit the Financial Proposal.

Annexes (to be downloaded from UNDP Uganda website, procurement notices section:http://www.ug.undp.org).