UNDP Jobs - 52453- Inventory on the Status of Implementation of the C

Inventory on the Status of Implementation of the CIM Plans Interventions for the 41 Districts of Samoa

Location :

Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, SAMOA

Type of Contract :

Other

Starting Date :

19-Jan-2015

Application Deadline :

07-Jan-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Other

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

During the period 2000 to 2007 the World Bank (WB) funded the preparation of a Coastal Infrastructure Management (CIM) Strategy and CIM Plans covering all 41 Political Districts of Samoa. The project was undertaken in two phases, namely, IAMP1 from 2000-03 and SIAM2 from 2004-07. The CIM Strategy was originally prepared in 2000 and revised in 2006 to include specific reference to climate change related issues.The Strategy, which has as its central focus a theme of “resilience”, directs adaptation in coastal areas to focus on activities which will have a enhance community resilience. It set out a range of adaptation actions with a strong preference for “soft” actions such as reducing other pressures, protecting and/or replanting mangroves and protecting seagrass areas over “hard” engineered solutions such as seawalls. The CIM Strategy has been endorsed by Cabinet as official Government policy with respect to coastal management.

CIM Plans integrate both climate-induced and geo-physical hazards and CIM Plan recommended actions are a package of improvements designed to allow communities to better respond to the challenges they are facing in their local environment in an integrated way. Climate Change (CC) induced effects have been taken into full account in the formulation of CIM Plans, including the current and likely future changes such as inundation from cyclones and storm surges, sea level rises, precipitation change and related flooding projections. The projected increase in severity and frequency of cyclones and associated hazards will mean that the need for villages to be able to respond is all the much greater.

In 2011, BECA International Consultants Ltd conducted prioritization exercise for interventions identified in the CIM Plans. Approximately 400 “large” works were identified in the CIM Plans for the 41 Districts. These works include new roads, re-alignment or reconstruction of an existing road, a new bridge, a new seawall, river training or flood protection works, telecommunications, water or electricity supply reticulation.

Approximately 1,720 “village” works are identified in the CIM Plan “Small works” means small scale local village level works, usually initiated in response to request from the villages and implemented by the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD) or other Government organizations who apply to development agencies for funding. They included soft solutions such as replanting and re-vegetation along coastline and river banks to enhance resilience of communities and their assets to potential impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

Furthermore, these options were broadly grouped into a limited number of project types that is generic for all possible options.

These are as follows:

Engineering coastal Protection;
Road Upgrades;
Drainage and water course crossings;
Drainage works;
Relocation activities;
Raising floor levels in the coastal flood hazard zone;
Protection and upgrading of village pools;
Sand mining and related works;
Water supply improvements;
Replanting and riparian management;
Reclamations;
Disaster and emergency management.

These village and district interventions and the necessary documentation that were compiled in the CIM Plans are being collated, managed and available in a Microsoft Access Database.

The USAID Adapt Asia-Pacific is an integrated knowledge-transfer, capacity building and technical assistance program that links climate funding organizations with eligible Asia-Pacific countries and helps them to prepare climate change adaptation projects. It funded the Samoa Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Guidelines building MNRE staff capacity to undertake climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning to facilitate decision making processes on climate change adaptation projects.

The Samoa Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Guidelines provide a set of guidelines for conducting climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning. The Guidelines reflect the steps followed in the on- the-job vulnerability assessment and adaptation training carried out as part of the capacity building assistance to the MNRE.

The CIM Strategy, 24 of the 41 CIM Plans, and various related reports are available from the MNRE website at http://www.mnre.gov.ws/index.php/cim-plans-from-iamp-1-and-siam-2-information

Duties and Responsibilities

To be able to review and plan for small and large works, it is critical to learn of how much the current plans have been implemented. Data on some projects implemented has been compiled in an Access database which is held by the Planning and Urban Management Agency (PUMA) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE).

In that regard, the Government of Samoa is recruiting a team of two consultants to be responsible to the AF Programme Manager (MNRE PUMA) to develop an inventory of the status of the implementation of the CIM Plans interventions for the 41 districts and 350 villages as follows:

Assement:

Review prioritization and categorization of work on CIM Plans undertaken by BECA and the USAID Adapt Project (http://www.adapt-asia.org);
Desk review of all available information/reports on development programmes and initiatives coordinated by government agencies, NGOs, and supported by donor and development partners (including UN agencies, bilateral donors, etc.)relevant to the CIM Plan investments;
Consult with the AF Technical Advisory Group, and other relevant agencies and institutions as needed, to complement the desk review for specifications or additional information;
Consultations with agencies involved in the AF Technical Advisory Group, and a with a specific “task team” of designated officials for this exercise, in order to provide inputs from existing sectoral plans, data and information bases and to complement the desk review for specifications or additional information;
Verification of field information through the task team, and spot checks through rapid field assessment in the districts and villages, involving site inspections and basic consultations with community leaders carried out for selected areas.

Analysis and Lessons Learned:

Update the CIM Plan database for each identified option looking at:

(i) status of implementation; (ii)implementing agency; (iii) budget/cost; (iii) donor/government/community; (iv) expected remaining life; (v) spatial coordinates/reference for all works/interventions implemented;(vi) comment on activities undertaken/deviations from proposed solution(s); and lessons learned, success factors, common challenges;
Based on categories from the prioritization works, analyze findings to look at % of interventions implemented; % of interventions that are outstanding; % of variation/deviations from original CIM Plan interventions (e.g. measures realized that were not included). In addition develop a database for all interventions including the fields listed above;
Identify gaps, size of possible interventions that should be included in the plans for future implementation;
In the field visits or through surveys, develop a rating or some form of quantification scheme for the various classes of interventions to measure and record the current condition of the asset/intervention and it effectiveness/relevance(on various grounds) to achieve the resilience objectives of the CIM Strategy. As far as possible, the rating method should be based on an approach established and found to be effective in other countries.

Competencies

Corporate Comptencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability to apply conceptual models in evaluation of projects;
Strong IT skills.

Management and Leadership:

Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;
Demonstrates ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Civil Engineer:

Bachelor of Engineering in civil engineering with background in civil and environmental works.

Environment Specialist:

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science (or an equivalent qualification) from a recognized tertiary institution.

Experience:

Civil Engineer:

Minimum of 8 years working experience in the area of infrastructure development or planning;
A good and sound understanding of the CIM Plans and practical knowledge of the requirements of the proposed interventions relevant to a Small Island country environment;
Experience in environmental designs and solutions, water supply works, small building structural design, drainage, culverts, bridges, and roads);
Experience with works design, cost estimating, supervision, construction and asset management.

Environment Specialist:

At least 5 years of applied experience in activities relevant to this assignment;
Strong background on coastal, terrestrial and riparian ecosystems and their management;
Experience in EIA and environmental assessment work would be an advantage.

Language:

Both candidates must be fluent in written and spoken English;
Spoken Samoan would be an advantage.

Only Online Applications through this site will be accepted. Please complete all relevant documents, combine and upload using the CV upload button.

This same consultancy is also online on the UNDP Procurement Site, http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=19890.

For clarification on the TOR, please contact anne.trevor@undp.org. If you are having problems downloading the documents, contact procurement.ws@undp.org.

Deadline for submission of applications: 7 January 2015.