UNDP Jobs - 50083- Re-Advertisement - Developing Pilot Projects to De

Re-Advertisement - Developing Pilot Projects to Demonstrate New Climate Risk Financing Instruments

Location :

Male', MALDIVES

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

16-Oct-2014

Application Deadline :

06-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

15 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

15 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 tourism industry of Maldives is the backbone of the country’s economy, which now contributes more than 30 percent to the national GDP, and 60 percent of foreign exchange receipts. In addition, tourism operations are intimately connected to a diverse range of value chains which provide goods and services related to energy, fisheries, agriculture, water and waste management, manufacturing and construction.

This key industry is firmly based on coastal tourism, and has acquired fame as a coastal tourism destination. The country’s pristine environment, the atolls, coral reefs and lagoons form the very basis of the country’s unique tourism product.

Climate change undermines the resilience, viability and profitability of the tourism industry and its value chains, both directly and indirectly. In spite of the evident impact of climate-related events on the tourism sector, monitoring for compliance with existing laws and regulations are not properly carried out, not enforced, and often left for the industry to self-regulate. In addition, since adaptation is not integrated into policy and planning instruments of the tourism sector, there is little or no adoption of climate-smart planning and investment practices. A number of tourism operators still employ water, waste and energy management practices which keep damaging the natural capacity of the sensitive reef ecosystem to adapt. This continues to render tourism value chains vulnerable to climate-related shocks and stresses.

Like any coastal tourism destination, the sustainability of the Maldives tourism industry also depends partly on its ability to adapt planning and management practices to the impacts of climate change and their ability to effectively manage natural disasters.

Climate hazards in Maldives range from strong winds, rainfall related flooding, storm surges and tidal flooding or rough seas causing damage to coastal infrastructure. Considering the facts that over 80% of the land area of Maldives is less than one meter above sea level and that a sea level rise of 0.09 m to 0.88 m is predicted in the period between 1990 and 2100 (IPCC), combined with increased extreme weather occurrences, makes the Maldives one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and sea level rise.

In response to this nationally prioritized challenge, the government of Maldives, in partnership with UNDP, has developed the project tilted “Increasing Climate Change Resilience of Maldives through Adaptation in the Tourism Sector” (TAP) that is currently under implementation and financed from the GEF/LDCF.

Goals and Objectives of TAP

The overall goal of the TAP is to support Maldives to become climate resilient by integrating adaptation measures in development policies, plans, programs, projects and actions. This goal is to be achieved by increasing the adaptive capacity of the tourism sector in Maldives to respond to the impacts of climate change and promoting investment in appropriate, no-regrets adaptation measures.

Expected outcomes of TAP

The goals and objectives of the project would be achieved through the delivery of the following three Outcomes.

Strengthened adaptive capacity of the tourism sector to reduce risks to climate-induced economic losses;
Reduced vulnerability of at least 10 tourism operations and 10 tourism-associated communities to the adverse effects of climate change;
Transfer of climate risk financing solutions to public and private sector tourism institutions.

Specific goals, objectives and outcomes are described in the Project Document and in the Project Inception Report. These reports, and other project related information can be accessed http://tourism.gov.mv/projects/tap-project/.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of this consultancy

One of the adaptation strategies proposed by the TAP is to introduce climate risk finance mechanisms and products into the sector so as to incentivize private sector investment into the adaptation measures, to protect invaluable economic assets for the country and secure the incomes of the communities that rely on the tourism sector. As a step towards this goal, a technical report has been produced under TAP that analyses the current insurance sector of the Maldives, insurance mechanisms used by the tourism operators and possible instruments that could be developed to cover and transfer climate risks to the tourism operators and dependent communities. The report proposes a risk pooling mechanism for resorts and guesthouses which will enable guesthouses to access comprehensive and affordable insurance packages and make insurance sector for resorts more sustainable. For the tourism dependent communities, a Microinsurance product is proposed. The report highlights key steps to be taken in developing and implementing pilot projects to demonstrate these new instruments.

The primary objective of this consultancy is to analyze the report “Introducing Financial Instruments to Cover and Transfer the Risks of Climate Hazards in the Sector of Tourism” and develop pilot projects that demonstrate new climate risk financing instruments for tourism operators and dependent communities.

Scope of Work

With an initial review, identify stakeholders, reports and institutions which have relevance to the assignment. Following the initial review;

Study and review relevant background materials and hold initial discussions with project stakeholders;
Write-up an Inception report comprising: The Consultant’s understanding of the consultancy and prescribed tasks;the proposed detailed technical approach including the methodology to be used for developing the pilot project and layout for the content of the project document;the proposed detailed work plan/timeline;identification of issues crucial to the viability of the consultancy; and detailed comments on this TOR. Subsequently, if required and approved by the project team, the TOR can be adjusted in response to the Inception Note;
Submit Inception report to the project team for approval or revision.

Review the report “Introducing Financial Instruments to Cover and Transfer the Risks of Climate Hazards in the Sector of Tourism” and extract relevant information for developing pilot projects.

Develop pilot projects for demonstrating the climate risk financing instruments proposed in the report. At least two pilot projects should be developed; one for tourism operators and another for dependent communities. Relevant stakeholders must be consulted in formulating the pilot projects;
The project document for the pilot projects must focus on practical steps to be taken to implement the financing instruments and should include activities, work plans and implementation arrangements for the projects;
Conduct a stakeholder consultation workshop to validate the proposed pilot projects and identify immediate steps to be taken to initiate implementation;
Develop an outcome report for the workshop which includes: a list of participants,relevant discussions in the workshop,feedback on the pilot projects,feedback on the workplans of the pilot projects,feedback on stakeholders and implementation arrangements proposed for the pilot projects;
Finalize the project documents for the pilot projects based on the feedback received.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Inception Report;
Draft Project Documents for the Pilot Projects;
Outcome report of the workshop;
Finalized Project Documents;

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will work under direct supervision of the Project Manager in coordination with the UNDP Program Analyst, Climate Change. The consultant shall report to the project manager and all reports shall be subjected to the approval of the project manager and UNDP program analyst, Climate Change;
The consultant shall give, at a minimum, weekly email updates on the progress of all the deliverables to the Project Manager and should raise any issues faced by the consultant that might affect the delivery of the consultancy;
The consultant is expected to liaise with the technical committee of the TAP project, relevant staff of Ministry of Tourism and officials of UNDP in the course of the consultancy in order to ensure deliverables produced are acceptable by them;
The PMU will provide assistance in arranging meetings with stakeholders including the relevant staff from the Ministry.

Duration of the Work

The expected duration of work is a total of 15 work days within 4 weeks. The Final report shall be produced no later than 31st Oct 2014
The Target start date for this consultancy is 16th October 2014;
The estimated lead time for reviewing outputs and certifying approval/acceptance of outputs is 3 working days.

Duty Station

The duty station for the consultancy is the consultant’s location;
The consultant will be required to report weekly via email to the project manager on the progress of the consultancy.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The consultant should propose a Lump Sum Amount that is all inclusive: The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the consultant are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability;
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;
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

The following method will be used in selecting the best offer:Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Inter-personal skills;
Exceptional analytical skills, solution oriented program design skills;
Research and evaluation skills including ability to synthesize information;
Excellent oral, and effective presentation and report-writing skills;
Ability to work under with minimum supervision, while meeting deadlines;
Demonstrated ability of timely completion of assignments;
Excellent social and communication skills;
Strong facilitation skills;
Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings;
Excellent interpersonal skills, team oriented work style and ability to work in teams is a must;
Excellent computers skills required.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

The consultant must possess an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in project management or other related field;

Experience:

The consultant must have at a minimum 5 years of experience in the area of project development;
The consultant must have experience in reviewing technical reports;
The consultant must have experience in conducting stakeholder consultation workshops;
The consultant must have demonstrated ability and experience to conduct high-level discussions in a productive manner with senior management, government officials, representatives of UN agencies, and experts in related fields;
The consultant must have strong research and analytical skills.

Language:

Excellent language proficiency in English is required.