Background
UNDP-GEF is preparing a GEF a medium sized project (MSP) and corresponding support documentation for Transboundary Cooperation for Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Conservation project to be developed under the Biodiversity funding envelope.
This project aims to strengthen conservation of snow leopard ecosystems and landscapes and ensure stability of global snow leopard population by addressing drivers of existing and emerging threats. The main global environmental problem that the project will contribute generally to is to halt the decline of snow leopard populations and to secure the snow leopard ecosystems in the 12 range countries (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kingdom of Bhutan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of India, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, and Republic of Uzbekistan). The project aims to facilitate advancement of national and regional actions that the 12 snow leopard range countries have agreed to under the aegis of the Global Snow Leopard Programme that was signed at the Snow Leopard Forum in Bishkek in 2013. The project is in line with existing national strategies and national priorities of the 12 range countries.
The project will specifically focus on the 5 countries in the Central Asian region. This focus speaks to the need for a regional initiative that includes all the range countries in the region that complements the national actions for enabling the transboundary conservation of snow leopards and their habitats. The Central Asian region faces several common environmental challenges including managing rivers and river basins, and fighting against wild life crime and trafficking, managing transboundary landscapes and ecosystems. These are inherently cross-border in nature and can only be tackled effectively through a cooperative effort at regional level. Although there were some initiatives for regional cooperation most have been focused on issues related to water and energy in particular regional use of water for production of hydropower or for irrigation. Unlike in the other regions, there has been currently limited experience in regional cooperation in the Central Asian region in the broader environmental management and in particular in joint management and conservation of transboundary landscapes. In addition, national regulation implementation and enforcement remain weak particularly in transboundary areas due to the limited administrative capacity while public and local community participation are presently less developed.
The full PPG-IP document can be accessed at this link:
PIMS 5413 Global Snow Leopard_Initiation Plan_15Jan2015 needs OIC signature.doc
Duties and Responsibilities
The overall objective of the Biodiversity Conservation Expert is to ensure that all required information for the transboundary landscapes (including leading selection process) are collated and made available so that it meets the criteria briefly described in the PIF and as may be described by the Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) concerned and the Project Advisory Board. The national expert will supply the technical expertise necessary and motivation for conservation site managers to achieve the goals of this project. The expert will also ensure smooth coordination with government conservation agencies and all relevant national, regional and international partners during the implementation period of this Initiation Plan.
The key duties and responsibilities of the Biodiversity Conservation Expert are:
- Based on consultations with key national and regional conservation agencies in the Central Asian region and through independent research, identify a list of project interventions necessary under different categories of capacity building, effective transboundary collaboration, data and other know-how gaps and so on;
- Support carrying out baseline assessment of conservation actions in general and snow leopard conservation related efforts (national and regional) across the 5 Central Asian countries, including identifying and costing of such baseline investments;
- Assist with drawing up of action plan to address the gaps identified above;
- Identify, scope transboundary sites that will serve as pilots for the project and then collect and collate data with regards all relevant parameters (e.g. status, biodiversity assessment, socio-economics, conservation needs and challenges etc.);
- Ascertain capacity and other needs of key national and local stakeholders and recommend ways to address them;
- Work together with international project design consultant to fulfill the broader goals of the project leading to the finalization of the GEF and UNDP documents;
- Identify key stakeholders and coordinate with all stakeholders at national and regional levels for the successful completion of the PPG/IP activities including where necessary responsible for organizing stakeholder consultations.
Outputs:
- List of project interventions necessary under different categories of capacity building, effective transboundary collaboration, data and other know-how gaps and so on; (due by 31 April 2015);
- Identification and costing of baseline investments of conservation actions in general and snow leopard conservation related efforts (national and regional) across the 5 Central Asian countries; (due by 31 April 2015);
- Action plan to address the gaps identified above; (due by 31 April 2015);
- Present data with regards to transboundary sites that will serve as pilots for the project (e.g. status, biodiversity assessment, socio-economics, conservation needs and challenges, etc.); (due by 30 May 2015);
- Capacity assessment and other needs of key national and local stakeholders and recommend ways to address them. (due by 30 May 2015).
Institutional arrangements:
- Estimated level of effort, including travel, is 30 working days;
- The consultant will work from home with possible mission travel;
- The consultant will report to, and be directly supervised by, the UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) for Ecosystems and Biodiversity, who is based in Bangkok, Thailand;
- The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
- The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
- The consultant will engage regularly by email, Skype and/or and phone on a weekly and/or as needed daily basis;
- Payment will be made upon satisfactory submission and acceptance of deliverables. The quality of the final documents will be evaluated by the RTA. If the quality does not meet standards or requirements, the consultant will be asked to rewrite or revise (as necessary) the document before proceeding to payment.
Travel:
- Anticipated travel to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to participate in one day consultation meeting on 21 March 2015, immediately following the GSLEP Steering Committee Meeting;
- Anticipated 9-days travel in total including visits to at least 2 countries in the region;
- All travels must be authorized in advance and in writing by the supervisor;
- The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
- Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
- Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives;
- The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
- Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
- All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants;
- Costs for round trip economy fare tickets, terminal expenses, and daily living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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.
Functional Competencies:
- Technical skills in biodiversity conservation and protected area management;
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a collaborative team and process;
- Ability to work with multiple stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines;
- Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner;
- Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner;
- Focuses on results for the client;
- Ability to work under pressure and time constraints.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s or equivalent degree in biodiversity, environmental science, Protected Area Management or other related expertise areas. (max 10 points).
Experience:
- Minimum 5-years professional experience in biodiversity conservation including field level experience in implementing biodiversity conservation programs. GEF project development experience required; UNDP experience desirable; (max 40 points);
- Working experience in the region, and previous experience with regional government conservation agencies desirable; (max 15 points);
- Knowledge and understanding of various elements of snow leopard ecosystems in the region (max 25 points).
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken Russian desirable (max. 5 points;
- Strong verbal and written skills in English. (max. 5 points).
Scope of Price Proposal:
- Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed as an all-inclusive daily fee in USD. The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal;
- Payments will be made based on the agreed upon lump sum and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.
Evaluation Criteria and Selection of Best Offer:
- Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
- Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
- The technical criteria (education, experience, language) will be based on a maximum 100 points. Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 70 points from the review of the technical criteria will be deemed technically qualified and considered for financial evaluation;
- Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
- The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee, including breakdown per deliverable as outlined above. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
- Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.
Documentation required:
- Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the link below;
- Please also provide your all-inclusive daily fee proposal for the assignment, including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment.
Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach). In addition, applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.
UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
General Conditions of Contract for the ICs: