UNDP Jobs - 50477- Poverty Environment Initiative Consultant

Poverty Environment Initiative Consultant

Location :

Bangkok, Thailand with Possibility of Travel to Asia-Pacific Countries

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

10-Dec-2014

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months with maximum 110 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

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

Asia Pacific is the world’s most densely populated region and home to 66 percent of the world’s poor. Asia Pacific’s annual per capita GDP growth was 7.5 percent in 2010 and its resource consumption and carbon emissions now outstrip the rest of the world. Yet Asia Pacific has the lowest ecological carrying capacity, and it is the region most prone to climate related disasters with the largest number of people vulnerable to climate change. This in combination with the region’s weak institutional capacity to address sustainable development exacerbates the issues and accelerates unsustainable resource use. The overall effect is that the achievement of Asia’s development objectives - including poverty reduction and food security - are made more difficult.

PEI supports countries to achieve sustainable development by integrating ecological, climate and fairness concerns into national, subnational and sectoral economic decision making and planning processes. The programme supports Ministries of Finance, Planning and Local Government to direct public and private investments to achieve greener, more inclusive economies.

While each country programme has been initiated to meet country-level demand and is tailored to specific national policy processes, the regional PEI Asia-Pacific Strategy for 2013-2017 reflects the global PEI Scale-up outputs aiming to promote:

P-E approaches and tools for integrated development policies, plans and coordination mechanisms are applied;
Cross-sectoral budget, expenditure frameworks, coordination mechanisms, and environment-economic accounting systems are institutionalized;
P-E approaches and experiences are documented and shared to inform country, regional and global development programming by the UN and Member States.

UNDP Governance of Climate Finance to benefit the poor and vulnerable

A regional programme “Governance of Climate Change Finance to Benefit the Poor and Vulnerable in South Asia” commits to building on the strength of past achievements in climate change, and aims to:

Support the integration of climate change into budget formulation at national and sub-national levels;
Strengthen institutions to track and report on climate change expenditures as part of the budget process at national and sub-national levels;
Share knowledge effectively within and across countries of the region as well as with key international policy processes related to climate change finance.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the short-term assignment is to provide support for the implementation of the joint UNDP-UNEP Poverty – Environment Initiative (PEI) and the Governance of Climate Finance programme.

The consultant will provide support to the members of the regional team, including colleagues from UNEP.

Poverty Environment Initiative:

Provide regional support to all PEI countries as requested including review of annual work plans and budgets for 2015;
Provide technical advice to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines and Thailand to implement PEI activities.

Governance of Climate Change Finance:

Nepal: Work closely with the regional team to:

Implement the work-plan for Nepal;
Ensure that there is synergy between this project and the outputs of the LGCDP;
Together with the national consultant, develop and finalize the TOR for the district level CPEIR.

Review, provide technical expertise, and timely delivery and quality assurance on key outputs from the work-plan, including:

Policy brief targeted to the Ministry of Finance, on why it is important to include climate change as part of the budget cycle, and options for how this can be done;
Report on the current status of the implementation (delivery and expenditure) of the policy to deliver 80% of all climate finance at local level, including gap analysis and recommendations;
District level CPEIRs;
Identify entry points to work with local CSOs to increase accountability on climate finance;
Support preparations for submission of work-plans and annual review of the DFID programme at the end of 2014.

China:

Support UNDP China to finalize with the Fiscal Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance the CPEIR at national level;
This will include reviewing the Mandarin document and providing comments, reviewing the English translation and reviewing the dissemination plan and taking part in the launch workshop. Support UNDP China to work with SDC to finalize the funding proposal for Phase 2 and reach a successful agreement to start the programme with SDC funds.

Other country support on climate finance as required

Final Products:

PEI

Monthly report of support and technical advice to PEI countries;
Annual Work plans for all nine PEI countries;
Supervision of videos for Mongolia, Indonesia and Myanmar.

Nepal

Finalized TOR for district level CPEIR;
Delivery of at least 1 technical brief or communication material;
Concept note developed to work with relevant CSOs on accountability in climate finance.

China:

Comments on China CPEIR;
Inputs to UNDP China SDC proposal.

Competencies

Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
Strong oral and writing communication skills with a very good ability to express ideas and write clearly and concisely in English;
Excellent coordination skills, with ability to work under pressure and handle multiple activities and projects concurrently;
Ability to work independently and to participate effectively in a team based information sharing environment;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Highest standards of integrity and discretion.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational:

Advanced degree in social sciences, political science, development studies, public administration, or other related areas.

Experience:

At least 7 years of professional experience working on issues related to governance, and particularly local governance. Application of those skills in other sectors is an advantage;
Practical experiences of working in/with government is an advantage;
Demonstrated practical experiences in financial analysis and numeracy skills;
Experience of working in Asia preferred; other international experiences advantageous;
Ability to take on multiple tasks and meet deadlines;
Knowledge of, and experiences with UNDP is an advantage.

Language:

Excellent communication skills, both written and oral in English;
Knowledge of regional languages is an advantage, but not required.

Duration of Assignment:

The assignment is expected to last 110 days over a period of 6 months, between 10 December 2014 and 9 June 2015. This include 90 days for PEI work and 20 days for climate finance work.

Duty Station:

The assignment is based at the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Travel is required to Asia-Pacific country including Nepal, China and other PEI countries as required.

Provision of Monitoring and Progress Controls:

The consultant will report to the UNDP Cluster Leader, Inclusive Growth. As PEI is a joint programme of UNDP and UNEP so the consultant will also work closely with UNEP as well as UNDP’s country offices.

Documents to be included when submitting proposal:

Interested individual consultant must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate your qualifications:

Cover Letter: Brief motivation letter explaining why the applicant thinks is an outstanding candidate for the job;
Financial proposal: indicating all-inclusive daily professional fee in USD;
Personal CV and/or signed P.11: including past experience in similar projects and the name and contact details of 3 references.

Financial Proposal

The financial proposal shall specify the all-inclusive daily professional fee in USD. Payments will be made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

Evaluation

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

Responsive/compliant/acceptable;
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% (total 500 points):

Experience related to services: 200 points;
Written proposal and/or interview result 100 points:
Expertise & Availability: 200 points.

Financial Criteria weight; 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.