UNDP Jobs - 48859- National Consultant: Establishing Carbon Stocks/ R

National Consultant: Establishing Carbon Stocks/ Reference Emission Levels and Measurement Reporting, Verification (MRVs) Systems in Kamuli and Nakasongola districts

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

29-Aug-2014

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

60 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

60 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

Establishing carbon stocks/ Reference Emission Levels and Measurement Reporting , Verification (MRVs) Systems in Kamuli and Nakasongola districts 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, but crop and charcoal production are also significant sources of income from utilization of natural resources.

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.

Objective of assignment:

Overall the assignment is to establish the existing carbon stocks and the Emission Reference levels and design a system for monitoring trends of the stock with a view of supporting sustainable charcoal production and linking the charcoal producers to carbon markets.

The specific aim of this consultancy is to:

Establish(by quantification) existing carbon stocks;
Outline different methods that can be used to assess carbon and highlight the most appropriate method to use, clearly outlining the assumptions to be made for each methodology;
Establish the rate of growth of the stock vis a vis the rate of depletion and thus the carbon being emitted (the reference levels)
Design a system that will lead to charcoal producers earning money from carbon finance;
Develop a methodology for monitoring and verifying trends in carbon stock growth/depletion in Kamuli and Nakasongola districts, including how often monitoring must be done;
Build capacity of district and project staff to monitor carbon stocks in the 2 districts.

The project stakeholders include farmers, in this case particularly charcoal producers and tree growers, 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 Ministry of Water and Environment who are responsible for accomplishing this particular task.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The geographical scope of this consultancy is Kamuli and Nakasongola districts where specific study areas shall be selected. Data and consultations shall be collected from these two districts only. The technical coverage is mainly on designing a methodology for measuring carbon stocks regularly so that the trend can be studied and strategies laid to ensure sustainable charcoal production and continued contribution to global climate change mitigation, through maintaining sufficient carbon stocks. It is expected that the assignment shall be completed in a period of one month starting September 2014. The consultant will be expected to perform the following specific tasks:

Review literature, select and document alternatives and the most appropriate method of determining carbon stock on a regular basis;
Constitute a technical team to ensure all required competencies are available for the assignment;
Determine the current carbon stocks and carbon emission rates in selected areas of the 2 districts and design a system for regularly verifying the stocks and documenting the trends;
Build district and project staff capacity to regularly monitor the stocks , verify and document trends;
Design a strategy that will enable charcoal dealers and tree planters to benefit from carbon credits.

Determine and recommend approaches and methodologies most suitable to the regions circumstances to inform other national interventions such as REDD.

Deliverables:

An inception report explaining the approaches, schedules of the detailed activities and expected time of delivery of the assignment;
Report of existing carbon stocks, rate of growth of the stock, rate of depletion and the carbon being emitted (establish the reference levels);
Report on methodologies for carbon quantification and recommended approaches for monitoring;
Report on district and project staff capacity building activities to enhance regularly monitoring of the stocks;
Strategy document for charcoal dealers and tree planters to benefit from carbon credits;
Policy Paper to inform REDD+ activities;
Presentation of all the above mentioned reports for stakeholder validation.

Note:

All the above deliverables will be reviewed and approved by the ddirectors (MWE), PC MAAIF, UNDP.

Working Arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant shall report to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) through the Commissioner Environment 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 MWE. 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 60 working days.

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
Good communication and organisational skills, with demonstrated evidence of capacity to produce and present good reports
Carbon modelling skills
Knowledge in remote sensing and GIS
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.

Corporate competencies:

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Natural resources Management with a bias in Forest Ecology, Environmental Economics and related fields from a recognized and reputable institution.

Experience:

A solid track record in forest resource management, forest inventory, monitoring and assessment and land mapping with at least seven years of experience;
Knowledge and experience in natural resources management.
The consultant must have undertaken similar or related assignment in East Africa or Uganda in the last 5 years;
Familiar with 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;
Experience in carbon financing mechanisms and climate change issues will be an added advantage.

Language:

Fluent in English.

Payment:

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 30%;
Upon completion of deliverable four and five, six and seven 50%.

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 experiencein forest resource management, forest inventory, monitoring and assessment and land mapping- 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).