Background

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.  BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder for including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

As the UN system's development programme and a GEF Implementing Agency since 1991, UNDP supports countries in addressing development, climate, and ecosystem sustainability in an integrated manner.

In its role as a GEF Implementing Agency, UNDP-GEF offers countries highly specialized technical services for eligibly assessment, programme/project formulation, due diligence, mobilization of required co-financing, project implementation oversight, results management and evaluation, performance-based payments and knowledge management. UNDP-GEF’s Green, Low-emission, Climate-resilient Development Strategies team works to support countries to attract and direct public and private investment towards catalyzing and supporting sustainable economic growth through initiatives focused on integrated Climate Change Strategies, Advancing Cross-sectoral Climate Resilient Livelihoods and Strengthening Climate Information and Early Warning Systems for Climate Resilient Development.

Recently, the UNDP-GEF, launched the Multi Country Programme to Strengthen Climate Information for Resilient Development and Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa (CIRDA). The programme has the objective of supporting with 11 countries in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia) to enhance national climate services in their efforts to collect, analyse and disseminate climate information as a key tool in long term planning and adaptation.

The CIRDA Programme is providing support by providing technical support and capacity building as well as by fostering knowledge sharing between experts, regional organizations and the countries’ themselves.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

UNDP is seeking a Country Support Specialist on Meteorology, Climatology, and Alternative Technologies who, under the guidance of the Chief Technical Advisor on Alternative Technologies and the Chief Technical Advisor on Meteorology and Climate Monitoring, will support the Programme’s partner countries in Western Africa on issues relating to meteorological and climatological information systems, alternative and effective low cost technologies to generate climate and weather information, and early warning systems.

The incumbent will be expected to provide technical advice to participating countries on the identification, procurement, and installation of innovative information technologies that gather, process, and distribute weather and climate data.  The incumbent will also advise country implementation partners on the operations and maintenance implications of the equipment for meteorological and climatological monitoring.

The Specialist will work under direct supervision of the CIRDA Project Manager with day to day guidance from the Chief Technical Advisor in Alternative Technologies and the Chief Technical Advisor on Meteorology and Climate Monitoring and in close collaboration with the UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisor (based on Addis Ababa), the UNDP Country Office in each country and the national Implementation Partner (IP), as identified in each project document.

Scope of Work

The Country Support Specialist will be primarily home-based (Africa), with missions to regional/global meetings and CIRDA partner countries, primarily those in Western Africa (Benin, Burkina-Faso, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia).

The Specialist will work with the CIRDA Team, national project managers, UNDP country and regional offices, partner and donor country governments, other international/multi-lateral organizations, and contractors.

The duties to be undertaken by the Country Support Specialist are the following:

  • In collaboration with country teams, assess and document existing technologies, procedures and capacity of each national IP to collect, transmit, process, store and communicate climate information;
  • Assist the country teams to identify key technologies, partnerships, and procedures that can be used to deploy innovative and cost-effective climate information services at the national level;
  • Provide technical support in the design and execution of national trainings on the use of innovative technologies, partnerships, and procedures (e.g., all-in-one weather sensor packages, mobile telephone tower infrastructure, lightning-detection sensors, rain-fade information, etc.) in the production of appropriate weather and climate forecasts;
  • Advise and provide technical support on assimilation, analysis, and visualization software used for monitoring the environment and generating weather forecasts and climate outlooks, including software for integrating data from meteorological satellites and surface-based remote sensing technologies;
  • Support CIRDA project management, country teams, and other UNDP offices, in the validation, and/or the design and execution of procurement plans that will establish cost-effective and appropriate technologies for monitoring and forecasting weather and climate;
  • Support IPs in the post-procurement implementation of climate information services including installment, operation and maintenance efforts related to data collection, processing, and distribution efforts;
  • Support country teams to ensure that sufficient quality assurance/quality control and maintenance/calibration procedures are in place; where necessary, help develop standard operating procedures for these areas;
  • Support countries in accessing international data to support forecast production;
  • Support countries in the digitization of climate records;
  • Support country teams in the creation of appropriate communication products for the distribution of climate information to key public and private stakeholders;
  • Assist in the development of strategies within each country to market climate information products including partnership development, business development, and product marketing;
  • Through frequent in-country missions as well as electronic communications, establish and maintain relationships, on behalf of CIRDA, with key national project implementation partners and their staff including IPs and UNDP Country Offices as well as entities within both the public and private sectors;
  • Share knowledge gained and best practices encountered on country missions with the CIRDA team and other national projects;
  • Support CIRDA project management and country teams in the creation and execution of appropriate monitoring and evaluation programs that measure the success or failure of project intervention efforts;
  • Provide continued support to the Chief Technical Advisor on Alternative Technologies and the Chief Technical Advisor on Meteorology and Climate Monitoring.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The expected deliverables of the consultancy are as follow:

  • Validated technology procurement plans for at least 4 CIRDA Partner Countries;
  • Mission reports from country support missions including a capacity assessment of each national IP to collect, transmit, process, store, and communicate climate information as well as the identification of key technologies, partnerships, and procedures that can be used to deploy innovative and cost-effective climate information services at the national level;
  • Support in the development of procurement plans including technology and service specifications for national project partners;
  • Delivery of national trainings on the use of innovative technologies, partnerships, and procedures in the production of appropriate weather and climate forecasts;
  • Information note prepared on methods to communicate climate information to public and private parties, to support either the climate adaptation objective or the sustainability objective of the project (or both).

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 favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

  • Ability to provide guidance on meteorology, weather and climate monitoring and forecasting, and product development and marketing;
  • Ability to assist countries to achieve project goals at the regional level;
  • Ability to work with multiple stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines;
  • Strong understanding of complex processes including science, technology and policies;
  • Ability to design of contracts and agreements with private sector in LDC countries.

Professionalism:

  • Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
  • Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
  • Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Communication:

  • Excellent writing and verbal communication skills;
  • Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Teamwork:

  • Work well in a team to advance the priorities of the CIRDA Programme and UNDP as a whole;
  • Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
  • Focuses on results for the client;
  • Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • A Master’s degree or higher in meteorology, engineering, or other closely related technical or scientific field of study;
  • Certification or a Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree or higher in Project Management, Business, Communications or other closely related management field of study.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of demonstrated experience working within or for an African national meteorological service or equivalent, including roles in weather and climate observing, monitoring and forecasting;
  • At least 3 years of demonstrated experience with weather or climate observation network design, implementation, and/or management;
  • At least 3 years of demonstrated project management experience;
  • Multinational and developing country experience would be desirable.

Language:

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and French language;
  • Proficiency in other UN languages an asset.

Residency (Location)

The Consultant must be a resident and/or in some way demonstrate a working base in an African country.

Institutional arrangement

The specialist will report directly to the CIRDA Project Manager with guidance from the Chief Technical Advisor on Alternative Technologies and the Chief Technical Advisor on Meteorology and Climate Monitoring. UNDP COs and UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisor overseeing the CIRDA Programme will monitor quality of support provided to client country teams.

Key performance indicators:

  • Quality of mission reports prepared (1: Excellent; 2: Satisfactory; 3: Poor);
  • Quality of procurement plans prepared (1: Excellent; 2: Satisfactory; 3: Poor);
  • Evaluation ratings from participants of national training sessions;
  • Quality of the support provided in the development of information notes (1: Excellent; 2: Satisfactory; 3: Poor);
  • Number of projects successfully acquiring and implementing new climate information systems.

Duration of work:

Information on Working Arrangements:

  • Estimated level of effort: 100 days as required by the Programme and approved by Supervisor;
  • The Consultant must be a citizen, resident and/or in some way demonstrate a working base in an African country;
  • 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;
  • Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked and outputs delivered.

Travel:

  • Travel will be required to international workshops and CIRDA partner countries for training purposes;
  • Any necessary mission travel must be approved 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 also 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;
  • All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents;
  • The incumbent will be required to travel primarily to support national projects in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia. Destination shall be assigned and approved prior to travel.

Duty station

Home based (Africa residency). The incumbent will be required to travel primarily to support national projects in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia. Destination shall be assigned and approved prior to travel.

Financial proposal and schedule of payment

The contract will be based on daily fee

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee in USD. The payments will be made to the Individual Consultant based on approved timesheet on a monthly basis and upon completion of the deliverables.  To submit Financial Proposal, please use Template of Submission of Financial Proposal provided in Annex 2.

Review time required

14 working days.

Evaluation method and criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

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

  • a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
  • b) 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%

Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation (30%; maximum 100 points

Technical criteria for evaluation (70% ; maximum 500 points):

  • Criteria 1 : Education- maximum 100 points;
  • Criteria 2 : Years of hands-on experience - maximum 300 points;
  • Criteria 3 : Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language- maximum 25 points;
  • Criteria 4 : Excellent oral and written communication skills in French language - maximum 50 points;
  • Criteria 5 : Proficiency in other UN language - maximum 25 points.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex 2;
  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
  • Technical proposal, including a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
  • Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex 2.

Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

Annexes

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to brh.gef.procurement@undp.org