Background

In 1993 the Royal Government of Cambodia issued a Royal Decree designating 23 areas, covering about 3.3 million ha (18.3 % of total land area), as protected areas. The current national protected area system includes seven national parks, ten wildlife sanctuaries, three protected landscapes, three multiple use areas managed by the Ministry of Environment. These areas are governed by a policy framework that includes the Constitution of Cambodia (1993), the Protected Area Law (2008) and the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Development (1996).

These regulations will be complemented by the National Protected Areas Strategic Management Plan (NPASMP) that will also act as an important policy instrument to link REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) and protected area management at a national level. A future mechanism on REDD+ provides an opportunity for Cambodia to access results based payments for its efforts towards sustainable managements of its forests. This will also support the implementation of the NPASMP in particular when this leads to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and/or enhancing removals of greenhouse gasses from the restoration and establishment of new forests.

The General Department of Administration for Nature Conservation and Protection (GDANCP), Ministry of Environment (MoE) is responsible for the planning and management of Cambodia’s protected area system. GDANCP has a mandate to develop strategic plans, action plans, and technical guidelines for managing the protected areas. In this regard, the PA Law highlights the need for a NPASMP. In addition the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (MoE 2002), that was developed to meet the obligation of the Convention on Biological diversity (CBD), also recognizes the need to “develop a management plan for  protected  and buffer zones in collaboration with local communities and relevant ministries”.

The proposed ten-year NPASMP will guide the effective implementation of the national protected area policies by prioritizing strategies, and recommending institutional arrangements. The strategy will also include approaches for the conservation and sustainable management of protected areas, expansion of community livelihood opportunities and strengthening the infrastructure and institutional capacity of the MoE. The NPASMP will also build on and be aligned with the national REDD+ strategy that is currently being developed. The NPASMP  will also seek to enhance coherence in the implementation of sectoral policies and plans, bearing in mind the ecosystem approach, the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, the Sustainable Development Goals (currently under development) and other international and regional agreements to which Cambodia is a party.

The following preparatory activities have been completed for the development of the NPASMP: 1) assessment of existing approaches to Protected Area management, 2) assessment of current status of Protected Area management, and 3) national workshop to discuss findings from the above analyses.4) Based on the results of these activities an initial working draft of the NPASMP has been produced.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities of Consultant:

  • Provide technical inputs to prepare a final draft of the NPASMP;
  • Design an inclusive consultation process for the NPASMP;
  • Participate in the design, organization, and facilitation of all discussion groups;
  • Ensure comments, views and inputs of key stakeholders such as the poor, vulnerable;
  • Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and elderly are provided adequate opportunity and means to contribute to in the consultation process;
  • Establish collaborative working arrangement with National Consultants;
  • Provide technical and management support to working groups, technical teams, and other forums as required.

Tasks:

The Consultant will perform the following Tasks:

  • Produce the second draft of NPASMP: Revise the first draft NPASMP as per comments received and produce the second draft;
  • Produce the third draft of NPASMP (no more than 50 pages): evise the second draft NPASMP as per comments received and produce the third draft;
  • Organization of four subnational consultation workshops: Organize subnational consultation workshops to present and discuss the third draft. The consultant team will be responsible for 1) preparing the meeting agenda, invitation letters and distribution materials, 2) identifying key stakeholders for protected areas management,  3) preparing presentations to introduce the main contents of the NPASMP and receive comments from stakeholders, and 4) prepare a workshop report;
  • Produce the fourth draft of NPASMP: Revise the third draft NPASMP and produce the fourth draft incorporating comments received from the participants of subnational workshops and an expert group;
  • Organization of a national validation workshop: Organize a national validation workshop to present and discuss the fourth draft. The consultant team will be responsible for 1) preparing the meeting agenda, invitation letters and distribution materials, 2) identifying key stakeholders for protected areas management, 3) preparing presentations to introduce the main contents of the NPASMP and receive comments from stakeholders, and 4) prepare a workshop report;
  • Finalization of NPASMP: Finalise the NPASMP incorporating comments received from the participants of the national workshop and an expert group and produce the fourth;
  • Organization of launch workshop: Organize a national launch workshop to present the final NPASMP.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

  • Workplan of the assignment;
  • The second draft of NPASM incorporating comments;
  • The third draft of NPASMP incorporating comments;
  • Four subnational consultation workshops and reports;
  • The fourth draft of NPASMP incorporating;
  • A national validation workshop and workshop report incorporating comments;
  • Final draft of NPASMP;
  • A national launch workshop and report.

Institutional Arrangements:

  • Overall Supervision: The Consultant will report to and be supervised by the Deputy Secretary General, National Council of Green Growth;
  • Technical Supervision: The Consultant will be supervised by UNDP Technical Specialist/UNDP National Project Advisor/ UNDP programme analyst.

Duration of the Work:

The duration of the work from 1 April 2015 to 15 December 2015 for a total of 65 working days.

Duty Station:

The duty stations for this assignment are Phnom Penh, Cambodia and home country. During the assignment the consultant is required to be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a minimum of 75% of the contracted days. The consultant will be allocated office space by the GDANCP, MoE.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Good analytical and communication skills, including the ability to draft and to articulate ideas in a clear and concise manner;
  • Proven written and analytical skills in producing high quality policy documents;
  • Sound knowledge of disciplines relevant to development work and climate change, with added consideration given to those with experience in protected area management.

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
  • Exerts strict adherence to corporate rules, regulations and procedures;
  • Familiarity with the internal control framework and results-based management tools is a must;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • At minimum, Master’s degree or equivalent in natural resource management or a related field.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience (e.g. natural resource management and environmental policy);
  • Prior work experience with developing national policies and strategies in the field of natural resources management, protected areas strategies or programmes;
  • Prior experience in Cambodia/Southeast Asia will be an asset.

Language:

  • Excellent written and oral English;

Important note:

Interested offeror is strongly advised to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=20967 for more detail about term of references, instructions to offeror, and documents to be included when submitting offer.

Documents to be included when submitting the application:

Interested offeror/individual must submit the following documents/information.

UNDP reserves right to reject any applications that is incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested candidate is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email vannara.chea@undp.org and/or procurement.kh@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice.