Background

Cambodia is consistently ranked as one of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change, and one of the three most vulnerable in Asia. Initial analysis based on the scenario of a 2°C temperature rise by 2050 estimates that the full damage of climate change on Cambodia’s GDP will be at least 1.5% in 2030, and 3.5% in 2050. In other words, if the annual growth rate of GDP without climate change was expected to be 4.5% in 2030, it would be reduced to 3% due to the impacts of climate change. By 2050, GDP growth could be almost entirely offset (reduced to 1% only) by the impacts of climate change (CCFF, 2014).

Agriculture is the most vulnerable sector, due to high dependency on seasonal rainfall patterns, and vulnerability to natural disasters (floods / drought). The sector plays a major role in the Cambodian economy and employs the vast majority of the workforce.
A recent Climate Public Expenditure Review conducted for the development of the Cambodian Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF) indicated that the level of climate related expenditures has grown steadily from 0.86% of GDP (368 Bn riels) in 2009 to 1.29% of GDP (741 Bn riels) in 2012. Due to the potential impacts of climate change on the Cambodian economy, it is essential that climate-related expenditures be managed in the most efficient and effective way. A three-year programme of work has been agreed between Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Ministry of Environment (MOE), with support from Cambodia Climate Change Alliance, to strengthen Government’s capacity to track and manage these expenditures.

As part of this programme, the tools introduced in the CCFF need to be tested to reflect climate change in national planning and budgeting processes, and to take into account climate change in the prioritization of public investments. Given the importance of agriculture and natural resources management in the climate change response, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been selected has a pilot for this initiative. MAFF has developed a 5-year Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2014-18), and put in place a dedicated Working Group on Climate Change, to coordinate its response.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this assignment is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of climate public expenditure under MAFF and to support the mobilization of corresponding resources through the strengthening of MAFF capacities and skills to:

  • Ensure that the climate change dimension is recognized explicitly in MAFF’s budget submission to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and supported by cost-benefit analysis (and other evidence as required);
  • Provide evidence to prioritize climate change budgets and projects and align them with  national and sectoral climate policy objectives;
  • Provide guidance and recommendations to the Climate Change Working Group and concerned departments in MAFF on integrated planning and budgeting related to climate change, as well as monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of expenditures related to climate change.

The international consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Conduct initial consultations and research, and support the development of a detailed work plan and approach

  • Review the existing budget submission and negotiation process between MAFF and MEF (desk review and consultations with MAFF officials), with support from the national consultant;

Working with the national consultant:

  • Identify entry points for MAFF to reflect the climate component of their programmes in the budget submission process (e.g. through use of CPEIR scores), and to support prioritization of the concerned programmes with evidence, including cost-benefit analysis;
  • In consultation with the MAFF Climate Change Working Group and other concerned MAFF officials, identify 5 to 6 climate-related programmes for piloting of the proposed methodologies for the 2016 fiscal year budget;
  • Propose an approach and work plan for the following phases and support an inception workshop to review and endorse the approach.

Support the piloting of the proposed methodologies for the 2016 fiscal year budget submission of MAFF

  • With support from the national consultant, develop the required training materials and tools to pilot the proposed methodologies (scoring, cost-benefit analysis, etc.) for the selected programmes, and deliver the related training/mentoring to MAFF staff (training workshop may be necessary at this stage);
  • Support the review of available information and advise on collection of missing data where necessary;
  • Working with the MAFF team and the national consultant, produce a draft version of the analysis for the selected programmes, including lessons learnt and recommendations for the budget process;

Support finalization of the analysis and integration in the MAFF budget submission

  • Present interim results of the analysis to all concerned MAFF officials;
  • Working with the national consultant, finalize the analysis for the pilot programmes, and include recommendations for further capacity development in MAFF on these issues;
  • Working with the MAFF team and with support from the national consultant, facilitate inclusion of the analysis in the MAFF budget submission, and any discussions with MEF (as required);

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will operate under the guidance of the CCCA Result 2 Team and Trust Fund Administrator. He/she will work on a day-to-day basis with the national consultant, the Climate Change Working Group members in MAFF and other team members assigned by MAFF, including planning and budget officials.

Duration of the Work:

 The assignment is expected to include 30 working days over a four month period (May-August 2015), with two in-country missions

Duty Station:

Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Some work may be home-based but it is expected that at least 20 days will be required in-country.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Familiarity with government planning systems and institutional roles;
  • Ability to interact with senior government officials;
  • Team leadership experience with strong communication skills;
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree in economics or related subjects.

Experience:

  • At least 10 years’ experience in economic planning, including sector planning, public finance, cost-benefit analysis and policy analysis in developing countries;
  • Experience in Asia-Pacific region will be advantage;
  • Experience related to climate change finance and agriculture / natural resources management sectors is highly desirable.

Language Requirement:

  • Fluency in English is required.

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=21692 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 dalis.heng@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.