Background

The Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection has requested GEF assistance through UNDP for the preparation of a program entitled China’s Protected Area System Reform, comprising six child projects. The program objective is to: transform China’s national protected area system through systematic legal and institutional reform and innovation for conservation of globally significant biodiversity. The four components of the program are:

1. Improved legal and Institutional framework at national and provincial level;
2. Systematic protected areas planning and mainstreaming at national, provincial, county spatial planning and sectors;
3. Site level management and supervision standards raised for different PA types; and
4. Programme Coordination and knowledge management.

Project Preparation Grants (PPGs) have been secured by UNDP to formulate these four full-size projects through situation analyses, identification and documentation of relevant baseline conditions, stakeholder consultations, identification of implementing partners and arrangements, consolidation of cofinancing opportunities, development of results frameworks having an integrated set of SMART[1] indicators and targets that monitor outcomes and key outputs, realistic assessments of risks and their mitigation, gender mainstreaming and social inclusiveness, identification and selection of target sites and pilot demonstration initiatives, and coordination with other initiatives.

This is the Terms of Reference for the procurement of up to four GEF Biodiversity Project Development Specialists (International Consultants) to lead the development of four of the six child projects. Applicants may apply for one or two projects; they should indicate clearly for which of the projects they are applying and those able to commit to two projects are likely to be preferred. The four child projects are outlined below.

Child Project 1: China’s Protected Area Reform (C-PAR) for Conserving Globally Significant Biodiversity will lead on the reform of China’s protected areas (PAs) system and serve as the coordinating project for all six child projects. Its objective is to: establish an effective National Park (NP) System through protected area reform and institutional innovation, increasing coverage of protected areas and improving effectiveness of PA management for conservation of globally significant biodiversity. It comprises three components:

1. National Park System Establishment
2. Provincial level National Park System strengthening
3. Programme Coordination and Knowledge Management

Child Project 2: Enhancing conservation of globally significant biodiversity through PA (protected area) system strengthening in Gansu. Its objective is: to strengthen conservation of globally significant biodiversity in Gansu Province through strengthening and mainstreaming the protected area system into government and sectoral planning, enhancing habitat connectivity and targeted planning and threat. It comprises two components:

1. Improved legal and institutional framework for PAs, KBAs and endangered species, and mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation in provincial planning reduction for endemic and globally threatened species.
2. Strengthening the West Qinling Mountains-Minshan Mountains PA network and reducing threats.

Child Project 3: Strengthening the PA system in the Qilian Mountains-Qinghai Lake landscape. Its objective is: To strengthen the effectiveness of the protected area system in the Qilian Mountains-Qinghai Lake landscape to conserve globally significant biodiversity, including snow leopard and Przewalski’s gazelle. It comprises two components:

1. PA system consolidation and institutional strengthening.
2. Emplacement of effective PA management and incentivizing participatory conservation.

Child Project 4:Strengthening Marine Protected Areas in SE China to conserve globally significant coastal biodiversity.Its objective is: To conserve globally significant coastal biodiversity in South-East (SE) China through integrated seascape planning and threat management, MPA network expansion and strengthened MPA operations. It comprises two components:

1. Strengthened MPA legal framework and mainstreaming and expansion of MPA network.
2. Demonstrations of improved MPA and ESA management 
3. Monitoring, evaluation and sharing of information on coastal habitats and species

[1] Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

Duties and Responsibilities

Tasks to be performed:

The principal task of the consultant is to prepare for approval by the Global Environment Facility the full Project Document and GEF CEO Endorsement Request Form[1] for Child Project 1: China’s Protected Area Reform (C-PAR) for Conserving Globally Significant Biodiversity, one of six child projects under China’s Protected Area Reform (C-PAR) Program. The GEF Biodiversity Project Development Specialist will serve as team leader in collating inputs from the team specialists and take the lead in collaborating with key stakeholders, implementing and executing agencies, and in designing the project document. S/he will have the final responsibility for refining indicative outcomes and outputs, establishing baselines, confirming the implementation arrangements, developing detailed indicators and targets, designing the M&E framework, establishing partnerships and confirming commitments for co-financing.

Key duties and responsibilities:

1. Prepare a work plan at the outset of the Project Preparatory Grant (PPG) formulation process, in collaboration with UNDP Country Office and other members of the PPG team, and provide an overall orientation to the PPG team in relation to GEF requirements for project planning and monitoring.
2. Ensure that sufficient, relevant information is acquired and all requisite studies are completed for timely preparation of PPG reports and delivery of the Project Document and GEF CEO Endorsement Request Form.
3. Coordinate and supervise the work of all other international and/or national consultants. In particular, work closely with the Community Development and Gender Specialist to mainstream gender and social inclusion in the ProDoc and ensure that gender disaggregated socio-economic indicators are developed for the results framework.
4. Ensure that all relevant stakeholders are widely consulted throughout the PPG process and that work under development is shared on a regular basis to ensure that the project is responsive to stakeholders needs, feasible to implement, has broad ownership and that stakeholders agree on the implementation and execution arrangements for project implementation.
5. Ensure that sufficient, relevant information is acquired and all requisite studies are completed for timely preparation of PPG reports and delivery of the Project Document and GEF CEO Endorsement Request Form.
6. Review all former and ongoing GEF and other donor/NGO financed projects related to PAs and describe in detail how the current framework programme (C-PAR) and this child project will build on these initiatives, using their knowledge, experience and lessons learnt to build a strong foundation.
7. Ensure that the design of the project complements national development plans, sectoral plans and policies.
8. Ensure that any action points from the UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) during the project identification stage are addressed during the PPG; and conduct a full UNDP SESP with a summary report on the results of the PPG investigation and future actions.
9. Prepare a detailed multi-year budget using the standard template provided in the UNDP-GEF ProDoc template that reflects the mandatory requirements of the GEF M&E Policy.
10. Ensure that specific technical issues and questions raised by the GEF SEC, Council members and STAP are addressed in the ProDoc.
11. Develop and finalize the project’s results framework with appropriate quantitative and qualitative objective-level and outcome-level SMART indicators, with baselines and targets for mid- and end-of-term clearly defined, and end-of-project targets. Socio-economic and sex disaggregated indicators will be included.
12. Develop and finalize the project’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) work plan, with responsibilities and accountabilities clearly defined, as well as an appropriate M&E budget. Use the standard template provided in the UNDP-GEF ProDoc template that reflects the mandatory requirements of the GEF M&E Policy.
13. Ensure that the GEF-6 biodiversity tracking tool and UNDP Capacity Development Scorecard are completed.
14. Perform final reviews of the project documentation as required.
15. Compile response to GEF Secretariat’s review comments and make necessary revisions to the documents.

Key deliverables:

Final comprehensive Project Document in UNDP format and the GEF CEO Endorsement Request Form, technically cleared by Government and the UNDP Principal Technical Adviser for Biodiversity and Ecosystems and, subsequently, updated in response to reviews and comments from the GEF Secretariat and GEF Council. The Project Document should incorporate findings from the PPG phase and be written in a style accessible to senior policy makers, making full use of figures, diagrams, images, tables and boxes to illustrate key points.

The GEF Biodiversity Project Development Specialist is also responsible for quality control of these deliverables and for obtaining guidance from the UNDP/GEF Regional Technical Advisor and UNDP Country Office on the applicable formats and templates to ensure that these deliverables are compliant (refer to Annex 1) with current UNDP/GEF and UNDP CO requirements.

[1] Templates are subject to change: the person responsible for this consolidation and drafting is required to obtain guidance from the UNDP/GEF Regional Technical Advisor and UNDP CO on applicable formats and templates and ensure that his/her work is compliant with UNDP/GEF and UNDP CO requirements

Competencies

UNDP/GEF Compliant Project Document

A UNDP/GEF compliant project document may include the following sections but templates are subject to change: 

• Development Challenge, including direct threats to and indirect pressures on biodiversity, baseline activities, long-term solution and barriers to its achievement, alignment with national priorities, contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Strategy, including project outcomes (based on theory of change to address barriers and assumptions), innovativeness, global environmental benefits (proposal sections on project rationale and policy conformity, project goal, objective, outcomes, outputs and activities including full descriptions of pilots, project indicators, risks and assumptions, country ownership, sustainability and replicability), national socio-economic benefits
• Results and Partnerships, including expected results without (baseline) and with GEF intervention (project alternative), outcomes with respective outputs and activities, partnerships, stakeholder engagement, mainstreaming gender, South-South and triangular cooperation
• Feasibility, including cost efficiency and effectiveness, risk management, social and environmental safeguards, sustainability and scaling up, economic and/or financial analysis
• Project Results Framework (with objective, outcomes and respective indicators; baseline status, mid-term and end of term targets; and assumptions)
• Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, including M&E oversight and responsibilities, additional GEF monitoring and reporting requirements, M&E budget
• Governance and Management Arrangements, including project organisation structure
• Financial Planning and Management
• Total Budget and Work Plan
• Legal Context, with risk management
• Mandatory Annexes, including multi-year work plan, monitoring plan, evaluation plan, GEF tracking tool(s) at baseline for biodiversity, land degradation and sustainable forest management, TORs for project management bodies and staff, UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure, UNDP Project Quality Assurance Report, UNDP Risk Log, Capacity Assessment of Project Implementing Partner(s), HACT Micro Assessment
• Optional Annexes, including UNDP Capacity Development Scorecards, list of people consulted, socio-economic and gender situational analysis, baseline reports, project assumptions for theory of change, threats to biodiversity/underlying factors and baseline analysis, roles of project stakeholders.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s Degree, Ph.D. or equivalent in natural sciences, environmental management or related fields that include conservation biology;
• Minimum of 15 years of demonstrable experience and knowledge in ecosystems management and biodiversity conservation, including significant experience in protected areas governance, planning and management at systems and site levels;
• Minimum of 10 years of experience with project development, implementation and evaluation, including formulation of biodiversity conservation projects with capacity development elements;
• Demonstrated strategic, technical and intellectual skills and entrepreneurial abilities in the substantive area;
• Demonstrated leadership, facilitation and coordination skills, with ability to manage technical teams, engage with stakeholders, design participatory processes and form strategic partnerships and alliances;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and deliver high quality outputs in a timely manner;
• Previous working experience with GEF project agencies, such as UNDP or World Bank, and familiarity with GEF and UNDP policies, procedures and practices are assets;
• Experience in working with government in the substantive area in China or elsewhere in East Asia is an asset;
• Sound level of computer proficiency, including use of professional office software packages (Microsoft Office);
• Strong communication skills, with experience in conflict resolution and negotiation; and
• Fluent English language (both oral and written) and excellent presentation skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents.

Application Procedure:

“Qualified and interested individual consultants are hereby requested to apply and must submit the following documents/information uploaded to their online application":

Documents to be included when submitting application

• Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal (download the format in below link) together with your CV while submitting application;
• Please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading;
• In the Offeror’s Letter and proposal, you will be asked to confirm your interest and availability for the assignment, and provide technical and financial proposal.

Download Link

Offeror’s Letter and proposal

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhov5ekfaty7ncz/Offeror%27s%20letter%20and%20Proposal.doc

Or, http://pan.baidu.com/s/1hqJIIaC

Selection criteria:

• Technical evaluation - 70%;
• Financial Evaluation - 30%;
• The final offer goes to the highest combined score winner.