UNDP Jobs - 48851- National Individual Consultant to Develop Standard

National Individual Consultant to Develop Standards for Charcoal Sub-sector

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

29-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

18-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

46 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

46 working 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

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, charcoal production and trade as well as declining crop farming constitute the main economic activities 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.

The charcoal value chain is characterized by poor and inefficient practices that result in substantial losses of the raw material (wood) as well as the product (charcoal). This in turn increases pressure on the declining woody biomass stocks in the cattle corridor which is also the main supply source of charcoal in Uganda. The Renewable Energy Policy of Uganda of 2007 emphasizes the need to ensure sustainability of charcoal production and proper functioning of the charcoal sub-sector by introducing a number of interventions including the development of charcoal standards and promotion of efficient kiln technologies. These interventions are recognized as key milestones in creating a formal and fairly modernized charcoal industry in the country away from a largely informal and disorganized one.

It is against this background that UNDP in partnership with MAAIF and MEMD is seeking the services of a Consultant whose task will be to develop charcoal sub-sector operational standards. The Consultant will also work closely with UNBS, MEMD and other relevant stakeholders and provide technical back stopping services during the development of the charcoal product/quality standards. As part of the consultancy, a strategy to popularize the developed standards will be produced.

Objective of assignment:

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop charcoal sub-sector operational standards as well as co-ordinate the development of the charcoal product/quality standards by UNBS, MEMD and other relevant stakeholders.

The specific aim of this consultancy is to:

Promote good practices and ethical conduct along the charcoal value chain;
Protect various charcoal users/consumers;
Reduce common wastage of raw material (wood) and final product (charcoal) and improve efficiency in the charcoal industry;
Introduce standards in the charcoal industry.

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 Organisation (NARO).

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The geographical scope of this consultancy is national because the intention is to develop standards for charcoal to be used all over the country. However the specific project districts are Kamuli and Nakasongola districts which form the major target of the results of this activity.The technical coverage is mainly on generating standards for charcoal and developing information a strategy for popularizing the standards that will be developed. It is expected that the assignment shall be completed in a period of 3.5 months starting August, 2014.

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

Identify the critical points and/or activities along the charcoal value chain for which standards are needed;
Constitute a task force to guide the process and provide required information;
Carry out consultations with key stakeholders to get their input into the standards;
Co-ordinate UNBS, MEMD and other stakeholders during the development of the product/quality standard;
Present the charcoal product standards for validation in a national stakeholder workshop;
Develop awareness materials to popularize improved kilns in three languages;
Develop standards for the charcoal sub-sector.

Working arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant shall report to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Developments (MEMD) through the Commissioner, Renewable Energy and will work closely with and supervised by the SLM steering committee. The Project management unit(PMU) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries 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 officers, District Forestry, Environment, and lands officers, SLM coordinators, and district planners and will report to the UNDP Country Director on all contractual obligations.

Duration of the Work

The assignment is planned to take 46 days, effective 01 Septemebr 2014.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
Mature judgment and initiative.

Functional Competencies:

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;
Knowledge and experience in natural resources management and environment will be an added advantage.
Analytic capacity 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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Natural Resources Management with a bias in biomass energy, Environment Economics and related fields from a recognized and reputable institution.

Experience:

A solid track record development of policies or regulations or product standards, with at least 5 years of experience;
The consultant must have undertaken similar or related assignment in Uganda in the last 5 years;
Familiar with the charcoal value chain and socio-economic set up of charcoal producing communities in semi-arid / dry land farming systems;
Demonstrated experience of working with government agencies and communities will be an added advantage.

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 three and four 35%;
Upon completion of deliverable five and sixr 45%.

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) - 15;
Knowledge and experience in rural resource management- 15;
Relevant experience in conducting similar assignments - 10;
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).