Historique

Climate change – including rising temperatures, and a greater frequency of droughts and extreme rain events – is negatively affecting local communities living in rural parts of Lesotho. The fragile mountain ecosystems of Lesotho provide a range of benefits that increase the resilience of such communities to climate change. These include regulating services such as storing and retaining water as well as mitigating floods. However, these ecosystems are characterised by widespread degradation as a result of unsustainable land management and exploitation of natural resources. The effects of this ecosystem degradation in Lesotho include loss of vegetative cover and extreme soil erosion. Such effects reduce the capacity of these ecosystems to protect vulnerable communities from the increasingly negative impacts of climate change that are threatening their livelihoods.

The government of Lesotho does not presently have appropriate policies and sector specific strategies in place to adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change. For example, ongoing initiatives related to addressing ecosystem degradation currently do not take into account climate change-related risks and adaptation needs. Furthermore, the capacity of Lesotho’s line ministries and various socio-economic sectors to plan and implement appropriate climate change adaptation interventions is hindered by the limited availability of technical skills, up-to-date climate information and best-practice examples to inform the design of locally appropriate adaptation measures.

The preferred solution to the climate change problem facing Lesotho is to strengthen the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities by: i) enhancing the capacity of government institutions and local communities to mainstream climate change risks into policies, plans and programmes; ii) implementing climate-smart ecosystem rehabilitation and management measures using a community/household based approach; and iii) establishing a system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of various approaches to climate change adaptation to inform a process of adaptive management.

The Lesotho UNDP Country Office and the Government of Lesotho will for the next five years (2015-2020) implement a GEF-financed project “Reducing vulnerability from climate change in Foothills, lower Lowlands and Senqu River”. The objective of the project is to mainstream climate risk considerations into the Land Rehabilitation Programme of Lesotho for improved ecosystem resilience and reduced vulnerability of livelihoods to climate shocks. The project will support the integration of climate change adaptation into national and sub-national land use planning and decision-making.

Project Outcome

Project outcomes are intended to achieve the following:  

• Promoting the efficient use of land resources by integrating climate risk considerations into land use planning and decision making;
• Empowering rural communities with skills to maintain a balance between agricultural production and demands for non-agricultural land uses;
• Strengthening the community-based management of natural resources; and
• Addressing institutional and technical limitations.

The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation (MFRSC) as the Implementing Partner (IP). The IP  will be accountable to the Government of Lesotho  and the Lesotho UNDP Country Office for the quality of project outcomes and the appropriate use of project resources, both when directly implementing project activities and when delegating others to do so.

Project location:

The project will be implemented in the Southern District of Lesotho namely Mohale’s Hoek District. Specifically in the three Community Councils known as Lithipeng, Khoelenya and Thaba Mokhele. The District is characterised by the following geomorphological features; the foothills, the lowlands and the lower Senqu agro ecological zones. 

It is anticipate that the project will reduce the vulnerability of local communities from climate change risks in these ecological zones through the implementation of climate-smart ecosystem rehabilitation and management measures.

The Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) will be responsible for providing overall technical backstopping to the Project. He/She will render technical support to the Project Manager, the Project Steering Committee (PSC) and other Government counterparts as may be deemed necessary.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Project Implementation:

• Assist the Project Manager with drawing up of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for technical consultancies (including policy revisions as and when necessary);
• In Collaboration with the Project Manager, the CTA will contribute to the development of the technical contract of internationally acceptable standard and assist with selection process, approach and recommend best candidates;
• Provide technical peer function to sub-contractors; provide training and backstopping where necessary;
• Provide quality assurance and technical review of project outputs;
• Support the Project Manager during project implementation in the provision of technical supervisory function to the work carried out by national and international consultants hired by the project.

Project Management and Monitoring:

• Undertake technical review of project outputs (e.g. studies and assessments);
• Provide quality checks of the work of consultants;
• Assist in monitoring the technical quality of project M&E systems (including Annual Work Plans (AWPs), project indicators and targets);
• Assist the Project Manager in the preparation of the Project Implementation Reporting/Mid-term Review processes and reporting, technical reports, quarterly financial reports for submission to UNDP, the GEF and Government Departments, as required;
• Provide advice on best suitable approaches and methodologies for achieving project targets and objectives, suggest mitigation measures where appropriate.

Communication: 

• CTA will assist in knowledge management, improved communications and awareness raising and advice on the documentation of lessons derived from project implementation and make recommendations as necessary for more effective implementation and coordination of project activities;
• Facilitate the development of strategic regional and international partnerships for the exchange of skills and information related to climate change adaptation;
• Facilitate the development of communication for results project documents including factsheets and programme reports.

Compétences

• Planning and timely delivery of work; 
• Excellent people’s management;
• Persuasive and sound reasoning ability;
• Strong decision-making skills;
• Excellent leadership skills;
• Sound Communication skills both written and spoken;
• Strong technical, managerial and programmatic skills.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education: 

• At least an advanced MSc post-graduate degree in climate change adaptation or a related discipline such as disaster risk reduction, environmental management, natural resources management, agriculture and water resources management.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years international experience in a senior technical lead position with planning and management of environmental and/or natural resources management programmes in developing countries;
• A minimum of 10 years in a senior technical position involved in institutional strengthening and capacity building;
• Demonstrated experience of working with climate information systems and adaptation planning processes would be an asset;
• Previous similar experience in provision of technical support to complex projects and Global Environment Fund (GEF) financed project will be an added asset;
• Experience in Southern Africa is a requirement;
• Must possess good communication and computer skills;
• Experience of working and collaborating with governments would be beneficial.

Language

• Fluent in English, both written and verbal communication skills.

Other:

Recommended presentation of offer

• P11 indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of at least three (3) professional references using the template provided by UNDP (Annex I);
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs using template provided by UNDP( Annex III).

Evaluation / Criteria for selection of the best Offer

Highest Combined Scoring method – Qualifications, methodology and experience will be weighted a max of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%.