UNDP Jobs - 64326- National Project Coordinator

National Project Coordinator

Location :

Colombo, SRI LANKA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

08-Mar-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

One Year

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

The global Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) is managed by UNDP, in partnership with the European Commission and the Governments of Flanders, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The 28 million US$ initiative was launched in October 2012 and will run until the end of 2018, with further support being sought to extend it. An additional $3.1 million in finance is provided through several GEF-financed UNDP-managed projects working in pilot countries to support governments to revise National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and to ensure sustainable financing of Protected Areas.

Guided by a global steering committee representing the partners, BIOFIN aims to develop a methodology for quantifying the biodiversity finance gap at national level, for improving cost-effectiveness through mainstreaming of biodiversity into national development and sectoral planning, and for developing comprehensive national finance strategies. BIOFIN will thus provide a framework for undertaking a transformative process led by national stakeholders, aimed at allowing countries to implement their NBSAPs and other national policies relating to biodiversity, and achieve national biodiversity targets. BIOFIN will feed into the development of NBSAPs, while the NBSAP projects in turn will provide a platform for integration into decision-making processes. Working with the global BIOFIN Team managed by UNDP, 29 countries are currently involved in developing and implementing the new methodology, to be refined through regional and global learning, and made available more widely. BIOFIN is managed by UNDP’s Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme.

In Sri Lanka, guided by the global BIOFIN team, the initiative will be working on four components:

Component 1: Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services in sectoral and development policy, planning and budgeting:

The first component assists countries to establish a firm baseline of current biodiversity expenditure levels and projections, while reviewing the underlying institutional and policy framework that directs expenditures from public, private, national and international sources. It consists of 2 separate but interrelated activities;
(I)BIOFIN Policy and Institutional Review (PIR) – The first step includes identifying the existing national vision and key trends for biodiversity and sustainable development, mapping sectoral interactions with biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services. The Review then helps to create an inventory of existing financing mechanisms used for biodiversity and looks into how existing subsidies affect biodiversity, followed by an analysis of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, identifying relevant stakeholders and their specific mandates related to NBSAP, as well as institutional arrangements. Policy recommendations, particularly on harmful subsidies and other incentives that contribute to continued biodiversity loss, can be incorporated in the NBSAP. Stakeholder engagement is ensured through a consultation workshop in the early stages and a validation workshop at the end to discuss the complete findings and recommendations;
(II)A Biodiversity Finance Expenditure Review (BER) – The expenditure review is based on the institutions identified under the PIR. For each relevant finance actor, both national and international, public and private, budget and expenditure data are collected for the past 5-7 years, identifying biodiversity relevant budgets. For each main expenditure the percentage that can be attributed to biodiversity needs to be identified. The expenditures and their outcomes need to be briefly described and where possible tagged with the national budget code, indicating whether these are a one-time or recurring expenditures. Based on these figures, projections are developed for future expenditures, while harmful subsidies and biodiversity generated revenue are assessed more in detail. At the end the amounts are aggregated to produce multiple national biodiversity expenditure figures. The final report should provide very specific recommendations on (i) possible re-alignment of expenditures; (ii) identification of available sources of financing; and (iii) improvement of processes towards estimation of biodiversity expenditures. Stakeholder engagement is ensured through a consultation workshop in the early stages and a validation workshop at the end to discuss the complete findings and recommendations.

Component 2: Assessing the financing and governance needs for the management and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services:

The second component consists of a financial needs assessment, developing projections of the true costs required to reach a country’s national biodiversity goals and fully implementing all activities of the National Biodiversity Strategy’s Action Plan. This starts out by reviewing which actions in the NBSAP and other major policies require to be costed. For each of these costable actions specific cost elements and units are calculated. The cumulative figure represents the national finance needs for biodiversity, and is compared with existing expenditure levels to measure the national biodiversity finance gap. Stakeholder engagement is ensured through a consultation workshop in the early stages and a validation workshop at the end to discuss the complete findings and final recommendations.

Component 3: Developing a new vision, identifying and prioritising a wide range of financing solutions:

Under this component, a national roadmap/plan is developed for future financing of biodiversity, addressing all possible dimensions of finance, including additional resource mobilisation, improving effectiveness of expenditures, avoiding future expenditures and revising policies. The national experts will work closely with the global team to review a wide range of possible finance solutions, and establish an agreed modus to prioritise based on a variety of characteristics of each solution, including the financing potential, the legal context and socio-economic/gender impacts, while mapping barriers that currently prevent further financing. For a selected number of the most promising financing mechanisms a more detailed feasibility study will be carried out. A large national workshop involving a wide variety of stakeholders should be organised as a key element of the consultation process, with a smaller workshop planned at the end to validate the strategy and its recommendations.

Component 4: Initiate implementation of the finance plan at national level:

In Component 4, support is provided to implement one or more priority areas likely to show short term results. Based on the process to develop the finance strategy, the national BIOFIN team will prepare one more proposals and submit these review by the global team. The selected activities can include a wide range of finance-related areas, including the provision of technical or advocacy support for developing laws and regulations, revising taxes and fees, the identification of legal thresholds, removal of perverse incentives, certification processes, public-private-partnerships, voluntary agreements, awareness raising campaigns, behaviour change through education and training measures etc.

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall management of in-country activities, ensuring a proper workplan and budget is in place and implemented within set timelines, and to have an effective national team operational. The Coordinator will ensure implementation mechanisms such as a National Steering Committee and technical working groups are established and meet regularly, and to have all planned workshops, technical studies and other activities organised in a timely manner, meeting expected quality standards.

Key duties and responsibilities will include:

Management:

Assist with the identification and selection of national consultants and experts, in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office and the Global BIOFIN Team and write terms of reference for national BIOFIN team members;
In consultation with the UNDP Country Office and Global BIOFIN Team and supported by the Lead Expert, elaborate/revise the work plan and budget and submit draft workplans/budgets timely for the bi-annual budget revision process (30 June and 31 December of each year);
Supervise the work of national experts and institutions to ensure outputs are delivered on time, within the set budget, and to high quality standards; facilitate, guide and monitor the work of the national BIOFIN team;
Oversee the work of the Finance Assistant to ensure administrative requirements are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations;
Organise all relevant project workshops in a consultative manner, involving a wide variety of biodiversity finance stakeholders, including the private sector, NGOs and academia;
Discuss with the Ministries of Finance, Environment and other key stakeholders the establishment of a national Steering Committee and follow up on the formal establishment and regular convening of the Committee, and undertake the same for any other proposed coordination mechanism and write meeting reports;
Ensure a timely identification of risks in implementation at the national level and communication to the global BIOFIN team;
Organise bi-monthly meetings of the national team and monthly calls with the Senior Advisor from the global BIOFIN Team. Ensure participation of national BIOFIN Team members in regional technical calls.

Reporting/Communication/M&E:

Signal any delays in national deliverables compared to the workplan to the Team Leader, UNDP Country Office and the Global BIOFIN Team;
Lead project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at national level, draft annual, monthly and quarterly reports for review by the lead expert and submission to the global BIOFIN team;
Develop workshop reports for the inception workshop and all technical workshops;
Develop briefing notes, case studies, press releases, web articles and other media products as required;
Write the section of the inception report on national implementation arrangements;
Assist with research and write sections of technical reports as required;
Review all national level deliverables to ensure quality and consistency with the BIOFIN methodology.

Impact of Results:

Detailed BIOFIN Work Plan and budget agreed by all major partners;
National Steering/Advisory Committee formed and operational;
All consultants and team members recruited and delivering to schedule and working relations between team members clarified and effective;
Lines of communication and working methods agreed and functional;
Reporting and updates provided to UNDP, government, etc.;
Planned activities are carried out in line with timelines and required quality standards;
All workshops organised in line with workplan and well documented;
The contract and payments will be performance-based and regularly assessed by the UNDP Country Office and BIOFIN Central Technical Unit.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrate integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promote 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.

Functional / Technical Competencies:

Good understanding of the UN system and Project Management;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
Proven problem solving skills;
Ability to work with accuracy under time constraints and pressure in a stressful environment; with patience, tactfulness, maintain confidentiality, take initiative and exercise good judgment;
Ability to work in a hazardous environment;
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and respects diversity;
Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and encourage sharing of knowledge to achieve organizational goals;
Ability to identify priority activities and assignments; adjust priorities as required;
Ability to plan own work and use time efficiently, manage conflicting priorities and work under pressure of tight and conflicting deadlines;
Strong analytical skills and comparative knowledge on environmental science, ecology, biodiversity conservation;
Excellent facilitation skills managing multi-stakeholder national/local dialogues;
Excellent understanding of challenges to rural development in Sri Lanka;
Knowledge on climate change adaptation approaches in agriculture, rural industry or livelihoods sectors;
Ability to design and prepare strategies and action plans for interventions aimed at building adaptive capacity;
Highly organized person, sets priorities, produces quality outputs, meets deadlines and manages time efficiently;
Ability to maintain overview in complex work situations, self-starter;
Able to gather and process data and information;
Excellent interpersonal skills to network among the national team and beyond to other national institutions;
Writes clearly professional correspondence adequately;
Shares knowledge and is willing to provide support to others who request advice or help;
Works toward creative solutions by analysing problems carefully and logically;
Maintains professional relationships with supervisors, co-workers and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Environmental Science, Ecology, Management, Economics, Agriculture Economics or related subjects or
Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Ecology, Management, Economics, Agriculture Economics, Biology.

Experience:

Master’s degree with 3 years or Bachelors with 5 years;
Experience in the implementation of environment/ biodiversity/ finance projects, prior experience with UNDP projects would be an advantage;
Experience in dealing with international and national experts and institutions;
Exposure to environmental issues or biodiversity desirable, but not required;
Sound understanding of key software packages (MS Office);
Knowledge of English is an asset.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English.