UNDP Jobs - 50260- National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies

National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies and Measures

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

75 working days within five months period starting from 1st of November 2014

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

75 working days within five months period starting from 1st of November 2014

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

Sri Lanka became a partner country of the UN-REDD Programme in 2009. Among other things the UN-REDD National Programme builds capacity for the design of policies and measures (PAMs) to address land-use change and reduce emissions. Several UN-REDD activities revolve around the prioritisation of such PAMs and the development of related REDD+ actions.

In this study, policies and measures (PAMs) are to be understood, respectively, as a set of principles of action adopted by the Government, and specific plans of action to implement the principles. Prioritising PAMs therefore is a cornerstone of the national REDD+ strategy. PAMs define the scope for on-the-ground REDD+ actions which directly address the drivers of land-use change.

The prioritisation of PAMs will rely on a set of criteria. These terms of reference will support a process towards identifying such criteria and related indicators. Subsequently, the identified criteria and indicators will then be pieced together to construct an approach towards assessing and prioritizing PAMs. The prioritisation is jointly carried out with key stakeholders.

A set of candidate PAMs will be available as an input to this study. The candidate PAMs are being identified by a study on the drivers of land-use change that a team of consultants is currently carrying out.

The work on prioritising REDD+ policies and measures will be carried out by a team of two consultants, comprising a national consultant and an international consultant. This particular TOR is for the post of international consultant.

Scope and Objectives

This study will generate a set of prioritized candidate PAMs, while also designing the approach for prioritizing PAMs, which can then be used and improved throughout the implementation of REDD+.

Key information for the prioritisation criteria and their indicators will partly be generated in this study and also drawn from other ongoing work. For instance, tentative information on carbon, socio-political and national policy implications of PAMs will become available from an ongoing study on the drivers of land-use change. The on-going institutional review will also provide information on feasibility and policy planning and implementation arrangements from the institutional perspective. Meanwhile, consultations with civil society organizations (CSOs), forest dependent communities, Indigenous Peoples (IP) and the private sector to identify key non-carbon benefits will also be required, and such a process might be led by the CSO and IP platforms, Community-based REDD+ (CBR+) and planned engagement with the private sector, in close coordination with this work.

The National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies and Measures will work under the direct guidance of Assistance Country Director of UNDP, with additional guidance from the UNDP Programme Officer, Techncal Advisor of UNREDD Programme Management Unit and Regional Advisors of the UN-REDD Programme. Key stakeholders include but not limited to Taskforce on Public Policies and Strategies established under the UNREDD programme in Sri Lanka; non-governmental stakeholders such as Civil Society Organizations Platform, Indegeneous People Forum, forest user groups and private sector entities.

Objectives of the consultancy are as follows:

Identification of criteria and indicators for the propitiation of REDD+ PAMs:

Facilitate a discussion among key stakeholders (as per suggestion by the UN-REDD National Programme Director) to identify and agree on criteria and indicators; and
Identify information sources to parametrise indicators for individual PAMs.

Prioritisation of REDD+ PAMs according to criteria and indicators:

Assess candidate PAMs (as prioritisation criterion) based on:

The governance environment and the socio-political context, using input from several sources, including an ongoing study on tenure implications of PAMs;
Their cost profile and potential to create non-carbon benefits;
Their carbon implications, using results of an ongoing study on the drivers of land-use change;
Other criteria and indicators as agreed between key stakeholders;
Analyse candidate PAMs based on information collected;
Facilitate a discussion among key stakeholders to analyse and prioritise PAMs.

Institutional and procedural context:

Develop a recommendation on how to fit the PAMs prioritisation into the government’s regular programme development and budgeting processes (this needs to address options for managing REDD+ funds);
Develop other recommendations as appropriate (e.g., regarding monitoring & evaluation of government programmes (i.e., REDD+ actions) including for non-carbon benefits).

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies and Measures is an expert in Governance, Stakeholder Engagement and Social/Environmental Safeguards related to the UNREDD programme; development processes in Sri Lanka and with a good track record of working with the international organizations in a related area. Further s/he will ensure the quality and timely preparation of all reports and documentation related to the consultancy.

The International Consultant and the National Consultant will work jointly to deliver on all tasks. A split of responsibilities as per the deliverables is outlined as follows.

The International Consultant will lead work on development of the workplan and assume conceptual leadership for all methodological questions to be addressed. The National Consultant will advise the International Consultant in drawing up the workplan and in conceptualizing work. Both Consultants will jointly produce the document;
The National Consultant will lead the implementation of workshops to be conducted and assume leadership for all discussions with key stakeholders. The International Consultant will provide conceptual guidance on the workshops to be conducted and support the National Consultant in their implementation;
The National Consultant will lead any support to the roadmap development process. The International Consultant will support the National Consultant in this;
The International Consultant will lead the preparation of all written deliverables, including the final report, and assume ultimate responsibility. The National Consultant will contribute to the final report under guidance from the International Consultant.

The National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies and Measures will carry out the following tasks:

Preparation of a detailed work plan

The detailed work plan should provide information on interim results, including timeline, an outline of written deliverables and an outline of workshops and other interaction with key stakeholders. It will also make the roles of national and international consultant more specific than laid out in these terms of reference.

With regards to the prioritisation criteria of PAMs, the work plan might describe the approach towards:

Possible criteria and indicators;
Validating these with key stakeholders.

With regards to the prioritisation of PAMs, the work plan might describe the approach towards:

Collecting information on the indicators through a desk review of other studies currently being carried out (mainly the study on the drivers of land-use change),
Generating further information on the indicators to include probably also cost-implications and non-carbon benefits,
Assessing the feasibility of candidate PAMs with a view on the governance environment,
Analysing PAMs based on criteria and indicators,
Supporting key stakeholders in prioritising PAMs based on the analysis.

With regards to institutional and procedural context, the work plan might describe the approach towards:

Understanding the government’s programme development and budgeting processes,
Recommending how to fit PAMs prioritisation within these processes, if necessary covering several options for management of REDD+ funds.

The work plan will lay out the approach to engage with key stakeholders. This may include several workshops for consultation and validation (see below). This may also include focus group discussions and interaction with an inter-ministerial task force on public policies that discusses matters related to REDD+.

There are several key methodological issues need to be addressed in the work plan. It needs to be decided whether the prioritisation criteria should also be used as evaluation criteria for individual REDD+ PAMs, which may have implications for a related monitoring & evaluation framework. Also, a methodology for assessing PAMs based on criteria and indicators identified will need to be laid out. This includes that a methodology for assessing the feasibility of PAMs based on the governance environment needs to be defined, possibly to rely on the underlying drivers of land-use change, the land-use change agents and the government interface of drivers and PAMs.

Consult key stakeholders to validate findings through Workshops.
There might be one workshop each for objectives 1 and 2.

Support the REDD+ Road Map Development process

The results of this study needs to be included in the national REDD+ roadmap being developed. The consultants will therefore be requested to provide assistance to the consultant working concurrently on roadmap development. This may also include interaction with the task force on public policies towards developing input for the roadmap.

Final report preparation (not more than 40 pages).

Tentatively this report could contain the following sections:

Executive summary;
Introduction;
Approach;
Information on criteria for prioritising candidate PAMs (criteria to be identified together with key stakeholders);
Summary information on PAMs as per prioritisation criteria (including some information contributed by other studies and some information generated in this study together with key stakeholders);
Analysis of candidate PAMs based on criteria (prioritisation based on a workshop with key stakeholders);
Description of how the prioritisation of REDD+ PAMs could fit into regular government processes for programme development and budgeting;
Recommendations (these refer to the scope of this work and in addition, as appropriate and useful, to the monitoring & evaluation of government programmes (i.e., REDD+ actions) including in terms of non-carbon benefits and to a national structure for channelling international funding to REDD+ actions in alignment with national budgeting).

The key outputs to be delivered by the National Consultant – Prioritising REDD+ Policies and Measures are as follows:

Preparation of a detailed work plan;
Consult key stakeholders to validate findings through Workshops;
Support the REDD+ Road Map Development process;
Final report preparation.

Competencies

Technical work

Knowledgeable about budgeting, public financial management, Overseas Development Assistance management;
Good knowledge of forestry, development and REDD processes in Sri Lanka;
Specific understanding of the concept and practice of REDD+, and broad knowledge of climate change;
Capacity to work with multiple stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines;
Demonstrated facilitation and coordination skills; and
Demonstrated networking, team-building and organizational skills.

Partnerships

Maturity and confidence in dealing with the staff of government and non government institutions and private sector;
Ability to seek and apply knowledge, information and best practices from multiple sectors;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of case studies and progress reports;
Excellent leadership, coordination and team working skills;
Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
Demonstrated leadership, facilitation and coordination skills, ability to manage technical team and long term strategic partnership.

Results

Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Good team player who has ability to maintain good relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s level education in forestry, community development or relevant subject area.

Experience:

At least 10 years of experience in the public sector in Sri Lanka; Familiarity with the concept and practice of REDD+, and broad knowledge of climate change will be an advantage
Working experience with international organizations will be an added advantage.

Language:

Fluent in spoken and written English.

How to Apply:

The application should contain:

A brief methodology statement on how you will approach and conduct the work, including the estimated number of days for completing the assignment in the given time frame;
A CV with all relevant information (including two non related referees);
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a combination of a desk review of the CV, the brief methodology statement and the offer that provides the best value for money. (please refer and adopt the financial model format provided below in your financial offer). The Evaluation Panel may decide to call for an interview (face to face or telephone) if required.

Financial Proposal

Please provide a breakdown of the all-inclusive cost for four deliverables separately as per below:

Cost of preparation of a detailed work plan LKR.......
Cost of consulting key stakeholders to validate findings through Workshops LKR...................
Cost of supporting the REDD+ Road Map Development process LKR.................
Cost of final report preparation LKR..................

All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee (Professional Fees): (LKR) ___________________ (a1+a2+a3+a4)

All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee (other costs as indicative below): (LKR) _________________

Total Lump Sum Fee (a+b): (LKR) _______________________

Note:

Payments will be based on invoices on achievement of agreed milestones i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR and certification of acceptance by the UNDP. The applicant must factor in all possible costs in his/her “All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee/Daily Fee” financial proposal including his/her consultancy and professional fee, honorarium, communication cost such as telephone/internet usage, printing cost, return travel from home to office, ad-hoc costs, stationery costs, and any other foreseeable costs in this exercise. No costs other than what has been indicated in the financial proposal will be paid or reimbursed to the consultant. The UNDP will only pay for any unplanned travel outside of this TOR and Duty Station on actual basis and on submission of original bills/invoices and on prior agreement with UNDP officials. Daily perdiums and costs for accommodation/meals/incidental expenses for such travel shall not exceed established local UNDP DSA rates.

For an Individual Contractor who is of 62 years of age or older, and on an assignment requiring travel, be it for the purpose of arriving at the duty station or as an integral duty required under the TOR, a full medical examination and statement of fitness to work must be provided. Such medical examination costs must be factored in to the financial proposal above.

The UNDP will provide and cover the following costs:

Actual costs for travels outside duty station will be reimbursed on actual basis and upon submission of invoices.