UNDP Jobs - 58028- Project Support Consultant for COMDEKS Phase 2 Pub

Project Support Consultant for COMDEKS Phase 2 Publication

Location :

Home-based with Limited Mission Travels

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

30-Jul-2015

Application Deadline :

14-Jul-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

45 working days through 30 May 2016

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

UNDP is implementing the five-year “Community Development and Knowledge management for the Satoyama Initiative” (COMDEKS) programme in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Launched in 2011, COMDEKS is the flagship programme of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), a global effort to promote sustainable use and management of natural resources in socio-ecological production landscapes with the aim of maintaining, rebuilding and revitalizing them.

Funded by the Japan Biodiversity Fund set up within the CBD Secretariat, the COMDEKS programme is implemented by UNDP, and delivered through the UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), allowing for a fast, flexible, and proven mechanism to reach communities and civil society at the local level. As part of COMDEKS, small grants are provided to local community organizations with the overall long term objective to enhance socio-ecological production landscape resilience by developing sound biodiversity management and sustainable livelihood activities with local communities to maintain, rebuild, and revitalize landscapes. COMDEKS grant making is expected to generate key lessons on community-based best practices to maintain and rebuild socio-ecological production landscapes toward the realization of "societies in harmony with nature", as defined as the vision of the Satoyama Initiative.

COMDEKS is currently implemented in 20 countries: Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Slovakia and Turkey.

The COMDEKS project team is currently working on systematizing results and lessons learned from the second phase countries (Bhutan, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Namibia and Niger) to produce a comprehensive knowledge product on the community-based landscape management approach piloted through COMDEKS, with summaries of individual country case studies detailing information on target landscapes and seascapes and supported activities at the local level. The consultant will work closely with the COMDEKS Project Manager to develop this publication aimed at capturing and sharing lessons learned and best practices from these country-led initiatives.

The publication aims to contribute to the Satoyama Initiative by collecting examples of successful implementation of the community-based landscape management approach in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes by disseminating lessons from supported community projects, which can be communicated to policy makers for coherent policy development and serve as a model for replication in other parts of the world. Although community-based initiatives supported by the COMDEKS programme at the landscape/seascape level have been under implementation on the ground for only one to two years, the publication will highlight emerging results and lessons learned to date, suggesting expected impacts and describing progress towards achieving desired outcomes. The publication will showcase how activities and achievements to date of the COMDEKS landscapes/seascapes are pointing in the right direction, suggesting what will remain to be done to enhance the resilience of target landscape/seascape.

In this regard, UNDP-GEF is seeking a consultant to assist with the preparation of the COMDEKS Phase 2 Publication.

Duties and Responsibilities

In order to prepare the COMDEKS Phase 2 Publication, the consultant will review COMDEKS documentation and interview COMDEKS/SGP National Coordinators (NCs), National Steering Committee (NSC) members, and/or others as appropriate. The consultant’s overall responsibility will be to ensure the high quality of the COMDEKS Phase 2 publication - print and online publication – by working directly with the COMDEKS Project Manager and liaising with the UNDP-GEF Global Coordinator of the SGP Upgrading Country Programs. The consultant will report to the COMDEKS Project Manager, providing frequent updates on progress, issues, and plans.

The publication will include two main sections. The first section will be focused on summarizing key issues and messages related to the implementation of community-based landscape management approaches (i.e. participatory landscape planning, social capital development, knowledge management and capacity development, governance of integrated landscapes, long term engagement and the process of adaptive management) in the first phase. The second section will be focused on country programme case studies (including information on landscape background and context, key activities and innovations and expected impacts at the landscape level).

The consultant will also be tasked to review the COMDEKS experience, draw lessons learned on the COMDEKS approach and methodology, and develop a working document (15-20 pages) summarizing findings and proposing elements for upscaling the COMDEKS methodology and approach in the GEF SGP Upgrading Country Programmes (strategic, operational and methodological working document).

The consultant’s specific tasks will include:

Review and assist in preparation of study outline and interview protocols;
Participate in skype interviews with NCs and others to ensure that individual country studies distill best practices and lessons learned in piloting the COMDEKS community-based landscape management approach;
Support with content and messaging around the concept of community-based landscape management approach in Phase 1 countries (Part 1: messaging);
Identify examples from the COMDEKS portfolio and experience that contain good evidence to support messages and arguments made in the first Part of the publication (Part 2: case studies);
Conceptualize, draft, revise and finalize the COMDEKS Phase 2 publication;
Review of selected GEF-SGP Upgrading Country Programmes materials;
Interviews with selected SGP National Coordinators participating in the GEF-SGP Upgrading Country Programmes;
Preparation of a working document (15-20 pages) summarizing findings and proposing elements for upscaling the COMDEKS methodology and approach in the GEF SGP Upgrading Country Programmes, and revision based on comments by COMDEKS Project Manager and the Upgrading Country Programmes Global Coordinator.

Expected Deliverables

Phase 2 COMDEKS Publication (50 pages) that presents COMDEKS community-based landscape management approach, best practices and lessons learned, including edited final version of 10 COMDEKS country programme case studies (Bhutan, Cameroon, Costa Rica., Ecuador, El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Mongolia, Namibia and Niger):

Produce annotated outline and first draft publication for review by COMDEKS Project Manager and Upgrading Country Programmes Global Coordinator by October 15, 2015;
Produce revised draft publication, for review by COMDEKS Project Manager and Upgrading Country Programme Global Coordinator by March 31, 2016;
Produce final publication by April 30, 2016;
Liaise with the designer and ensure final quality of the publication for dissemination by May 30, 2016.

Working document (15-20 pages) summarizing findings and proposing elements for upscaling the COMDEKS methodology and approach in the GEF SGP Upgrading Country Programmes (strategic, operational and methodological working document).

Draft working document summarizing findings and proposing elements for upscaling the COMDEKS methodology and approach in the GEF SGP Upgrading Country Programmes, for review by the COMDEKS Project Manager and the Upgrading Country Programmes Global Coordinator, by 31 September 2015;
Final working document by 31 March 2016.

Information on Working Arrangements:

Estimated level of effort including travel days: 45 days;
The consultant will work from home with limited mission travel;
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 certification of payment form and acceptance and confirmation by the Project Manager on days worked and outputs delivered.

Travel:

Travel may be required to New York at least once for 1-2 days over the consultancy duration;
Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and in writing by the Project Manager;
The Basic Security in the Field II course must be successfully completed and applicable security clearance obtained 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 set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements (including travel claims) 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. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in the financial proposal

Payment schedule

Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion and acceptance of the deliverables by the Project Manager as per below percentages:

Phase 2 COMDEKS Publication:

Annotated outline and first draft publication by October 15, 2015- 10%;
Revised draft publication by March 31, 2016 – 10%;
Final publication by April 30, 2016- 30%;
Final publication design-ready for dissemination by May 30, 2016- 10%.

Working Document:

Draft Working Document summarizing findings and proposing elements for upscaling the COMDEKS methodology and approach in the GEF SGP Upgrading Country Programmes, by September 31, 2015- 10%;
Final Working Document by March 31, 2016 – 30%.

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

Expertise and knowledge on sustainable development and community participation.

Professionalism:

Demonstrated ability in analytical thinking and strategic planning;
Strong organizational, reporting and writing abilities;
Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time.

Teamwork:

Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Ability to work under pressure;
Ability to work in and manage teams.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree, or first-level university degree in combination with 5 additional year’s equivalent experience, in the field of development, social and/or environmental sciences, or other closely related field (max 5 points);

Experience:

A minimum of ten years of professional experience with the UN system or an international organization, preferably providing program support in the design, administration and implementation of programs that serve local communities (max 10 points);
Strong communication and research skills (max 10 points);
Good knowledge of biodiversity, land degradation, climate change and development (max 10 points);
Familiarity with UNDP’s community-based initiatives (including COMDEKS) is an advantage (max10 points);
Familiarity with GEF Small Grants Programme, and other UNDP implemented initiatives at the local level is an advantage (max 15 points);
Excellent conceptual, writing, and presentation skills for diverse audiences (demonstrated through publication record). Please provide 3 examples and/or links in your application demonstrating publications (max 15 points).

Language:

Excellent command of English required (max 3 points);
Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset (max 2 points).

Evaluation Method, Criteria, and Award of Contract:

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Incomplete applications will not be considered;
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 80 points. Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 56 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 a lump sum 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 the fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment; costs for mission travel should not be included in financial proposal);
Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation to be submitted:

Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the below link;
Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.

Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

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:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.