UNDP Jobs - 61989- National Consultant, Mid-term Review

National Consultant, Mid-term Review

Location :

Dili, Timor Leste

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

07-Dec-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

26 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

26 Days

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

Small scale infrastructure in Timor-Leste is particularly vulnerable to extreme rainfall events, causing erosion, landslides and flash floods as a result of the physical context and non-climate resilient designs, poor construction, and limited investment in operation and maintenance. Communities frequently become isolated when roads and bridges are damaged by localized extreme events and in the water sector many rural communities are dependent on unprotected wells or springs, as well as other surface water features such as rivers, lakes and streams.

The three focus municipalities selected for pilot, Baucau, Liquica and Ermera represent the diversity of key climate variability risks and vulnerabilities, which the project aims to address. They combine relatively high population densities with relatively poor areas, vulnerable flood-prone coastal conditions and landfall prone vulnerable mountainous terrain and areas with a projected increased drought period with areas of high groundwater vulnerability. The vast majority of the population in the selected districts depends on unprotected gravity-fed water sources which it uses for both domestic use and important subsistence and in some cases cash crop production (paddy rice and market vegetables).

Climate induced threats are further affected by the slowly decreasing protective and water storage functions of ecosystems, caused by drivers such as over-exploitation of forest and coastal areas resulting in rapid deforestation. The combination of climate variability-related pressures and other drivers means that village water supply systems dry out more often, and that baseline physical infrastructure, which is not protected from irregular and intense water flows, is degrading more rapidly.

UNDP SSRI Project focuses on supporting Ministry of State Administration (MSA ) and Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment (MCIE) to implement climate resilient rural infrastructure projects in a socially and environmentally acceptable manner as well as to develop institutional and human capacity at national and sub-national level (local community and Municipalities) to integrate climate resilience into the planning and implementation of District Development Investment Plan (PDID) projects.

SSRI supports integrating climate change issues into Municipality and local level planning and implementation of PDID projects in a manner that makes them withstand risks and impacts of climate change. SSRI works in three Municipalities of Baucau, Ermera and Liquica.

The objective of the project is critical small scale rural infrastructure is climate resilient designed and implemented through participatory approaches and strengthened local governance systems, reflecting the needs of communities vulnerable to increasing climate risks.

The overall goal of the project is to safeguard development benefits for rural communities from future climate change induced risks. This goal is consistent with and underpinned by, a number of important policies and strategies governing Timor-Leste’s national development and its specific respond to climate change.

LDCF funds will be used by the Government of Timor Leste to address these barriers through 3 components. Outcome 1: Policy makers and the public in Timor Leste are aware of critical climate risks to rural (infrastructure) development and are systematically being informed on up to date evidence-based information on climate hazards through vulnerability assessment and cross government coordination mechanisms; with the LDCF grant requested: USD 430,000 and Co-financing: USD 12,577,384. Outcome 2: Local Administrations integrate climate risks into participatory planning, budgeting and standards of small scale rural infrastructure development. With the LDCF grant requested: USD 573,610 and Co-financing: USD 12,579,523. Outcome 3: Small scale rural infrastructure made resilient against climate change induced risks (droughts, floods, erosion and landslides) in at least the 3 Districts or Municipalities of Liquiça, Ermera and Baucau (Physical Investment Component). The Ministry of State Administration is act at the lead partner from the government of Timor Leste as well as responsible party for the investment component (Component 3). With the LDCF grant requested: USD 3,366,390 and Co-financing: USD 23,174,128. This Project is implemented by UNDP under direct implementation arrangements (DIM), which is the principle implementation modality under the 2009-2013 Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP).

UNDP is committed to promote a phased move towards National Implementation (NIM) in preparation for the next country programme cycle. Therefore a limited capacity assessment of MSA was undertaken in June 2011, which evaluated the present administrative and financial management capacity of MSA. The LGSP II is institutionally housed in the Ministry of State Administration (MSA) and is directly accountable to the Project Board under the guidance of the Minister of MSA. The LDCF project will be institutionally integrated within the LGSP II as a third component, and will thus be governed by the LGSP II Project Board and management arrangements. This way establishment of separate project steering and management arrangements can be avoided, which is deemed more efficient as well as more acceptable to MSA

Duties and Responsibilities

The IC national consultant will work and assist an international consultant on conducting Mid Term Review for SSRI project by reviewing all project documents, support international consultant on conducting inception workshop, meetings and field trip to the SSRI project locations.

Specification tasks and responsibilities include:

Support international consultant on conduct a document review of project documents (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, Project Document, ESSP, Project Inception Report, PIRs, GEF focal area Tracking Tools, Project Appraisal Committee meeting minutes, Financial and Administration guidelines used by Project Team, project operational guidelines, manuals and systems, etc.)
Support international consultant on conducting an inception workshop and provide inception report;
Conduct interviews and site visits to SSRI project location in Municipality of Baucau, Ermera and Liquica as needed.
Organize meeting and taking of minutes with Administrator Municipalities, Sub District Administrator, leader community, community members, local contractor, and NGOs and CBOs and relevant stakeholders at Municipality level.
Organize meeting and taking minutes with SNGDP-SSRI board member, MSA, MCIE and other relevant stakeholders.
Assist and support international consultant on preparing draft and final MTR report.

Competencies

Excellent communication skills and demonstrable analytical skills
Ability to work under pressure, effective team coordination and meet tight deadlines without compromising on the quality of work, and being flexible;
Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communications skills;
Excellent presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Bachelor degree in environmental science, Community Development, Natural Resources, Policy and Management, Public Administration or other closed related fields.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years with Bachelor degree or 2 years with Master degree with relevant experience as below:
Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and biodiversity;
Experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis;
Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system or international Agencies will be considered an asset;
Experience in facilitation of multi-stakeholder workshops and broad-based consultative processes;
Sound understanding on linkages between climate change, ecosystems and small scale Infrastructures evidenced through past work experience;

Language requirement:

Proficiency in English both written and speaking is required.
Knowledge of other languages such as Tetun, Portuguese or Bahasa Indonesia is an asset.

Application procedure:

TOR and application documents are accessible via this link http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=26975.