Background
Nepal is highly vulnerable to the potential negative impacts of climate change. Consistent rises in annual mean temperature, less frequent but more intensive rainfall events, increasing frequency and intensity of floods, changes in monsoon on- and offset, growing threat from Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), longer dry spells and drought events, and increasingly stronger storms have already been experienced in Nepal in the past decade. These climate-induced hazards are not only causing damage and loss of human lives and property; they also undermine development progress in Nepal and put the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at risk, including the obligations of, and commitments to the climate change regime.
Nepal has limited organisational capacity to deal with climate change impacts. In Least Developed Countries (LDCs) like Nepal, climate change is a new and emerging priority. For Nepal, since greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are negligible on a global scale, there is no significant comparative advantage in responding to climate change issues through intensified mitigation approaches. Although a cleaner energy path has, to some extent, been taken to meet the obligations of UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, Nepal cannot escape from the consequences of climate change and has recognized the need to take concrete steps to adapt to its adverse effects. Therefore, the development of a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to climate change has been recognized as an important priority and a starting point for vulnerability reduction in climate sensitive sectors and sub-regions. The NAPA process in Nepal will be lead by Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MOEST) and is supported by UNDP, GEF, DFID and Embassy of Denmark. The NAPA process has three major components: i) Preparation and dissemination of a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). ii) Development and maintenance of a Climate Change Knowledge Management and Learning Platform for Nepal. iii) Development of a multi-stakeholder Framework of Action for Climate Change in Nepal.
The purpose of the NAPA Project is to develop a strategic framework of action on climate change that identifies immediate priorities for climate resilient low carbon development behind which the government, the civil societies and the donors can align their actions in a more synergistic manner. Furthermore, the project will deliver a NAPA document that outlines Nepal’s immediate and urgent priorities in Climate Change Adaptation and will guide the provision of follow-up funding, including financing from the Least Developed Country Fund (LDCF) to implement climate change adaptation and climate risk management activities in Nepal.
Through NAPA process, UNDP in collaboration with other donor agencies is trying to build the national capacity in government and civil society organizations to harness multi-stakeholder inputs through effective coordination among the donors and the partners required for timely delivery of NAPA document. This will also help institutionalize processes that are urgently needed to identify and follow up on most immediate adaptation priorities to build climate resilient systems, and enable communities to adapt to climate change and improve access to knowledge and learning through a dedicated climate change knowledge and learning centre.
Building on the non-governmental sectors' initiative of informal networking, the MoEST has set up a Climate Change Network (CCN) involving inter-ministerial departments/organizations, interested bi-lateral and multilateral agencies, I/NGOs, academia and private sector to address information, coordination and communication issues around Climate Change in Nepal. The CCN is presently grappling with the problems of voluntarism and irregular participation. There is no clear cut mechanism of funding for joint initiatives or actions of the network, and the MoEST lacks capacity to make a strong case for budgetary allocations with Treasury (due to a lack of visibility of climate change amidst other government priorities). There is no common and sustained platform of information, knowledge and learning on climate change matters that would enable the Government to grow into a strong, agenda-based platform with appropriate visibility to inform and support policy decisions.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Climate Change Network Facilitator will work directly under the Project Manager of the NAPA project, which is implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology of Nepal (MoEST) under the overall guidance of the Project Executive. The person will work closely with the Climate Change Specialist and the expanded NAPA Project team to ensure knowledge management and information sharing, capacity building and other activities that strengthen stakeholder coordination and communication around Climate Change issues in Nepal. The person will work in a team with other members of the NAPA project, including government staff.
The Climate Change Network Facilitator will be responsible for establishing an effective co-ordination mechanism and learning and knowledge platform to support the NAPA preparation process and responding to immediate adaptation priorities through:
1. Assist the NAPA Project Manager in establishing close linkages and coordination of communications between existing Climate Change Networks, projects and the NAPA process
- Provide support to the Climate Change Network (CCN) in Nepal to address information, coordination and communication issues and facilitate regular communication between institutions working on climate risk and disaster management.
- Facilitate consultative processes to acquire climate risk and vulnerability information that is currently scattered among various stakeholders and relevant for formulation of a NAPA document.
- Ensure regular coordination and communication between the NAPA and National Communications process
- Assist in the preparation of Terms of Reference for specific technical consultants and specialized organizations that are required to support specific aspects of the NAPA process during its implementation.
- Monitor and provide guidance to consultants involved in the NAPA enabling activities
- Undertake any other duties as required by the project
2. Facilitate all NAPA-related communication processes and coordinate stakeholder input from a variety of sources to institutionalize a regular, agenda-based exchange of information on Climate Change and climate risk issues in Nepal.
- Assist to organize and coordinate regular meetings among stakeholders to exchange information related to climate change impacts, vulnerability, risk management and adaptation measures.
- Facilitate the creation of a multi-stakeholder framework of action on Climate Change in Nepal by identifying ‘who does what on Climate Change and where are the gaps’ (taking into consideration other climate change related initiatives such as Second National Communication, Assessment of Investment and Financial Flows, Climate Change
- Policy, climate change projects related to forestry, agriculture and health)
- Support and facilitate the harmonization of donor assistance on climate change programmes in Nepal by maintaining
- a comprehensive inventory of climate-change related projects, programmes and initiatives in the country
- Assist and provide guidance to the creation of a web-based Climate Change Knowledge Management and Learning
- Platform, and update inputs to the platform on a regular basis.
3. Regular participation in meetings of the Donor network, the National Communications process and the Climate Change Network, providing feedback and input into the preparation of a NAPA document
- Prepare and maintain a stakeholder inventory including staff from government, non-government, private sector and research institutions who are actively involved in, or potentially benefitting from, exchange of climate change-related information and knowledge.
- Strengthen the capacity of the CCN to actively become involved in the National Communication and donor network coordination processes.
- Provide inputs to the NAPA Project Manager for assessing various financing mechanisms for climate related activities.
- Provide information generated from the NAPA process for a web based system.
- Participate in climate change related meetings, workshops and seminars and document outputs
4. Provision of strategic guidance for the establishment of a Climate Change Knowledge Management and Learning Platform for Nepal and development of multi-stakeholder framework of action on Climate Change
- Prepare a national Climate Change Knowledge Management Strategy to clarify institutional affiliations and analysis of knowledge gaps and priority research needs emerging from NAPA, national communications, climate change and disaster risk reduction related processes in Nepal.
- Support the establishment of a web-based knowledge and learning platform to institutionalize the dissemination and dialogue around climate risk information, and enable its functionality to ensure easy capturing of new contributions from the community of practice.
- Identify strengths and weaknesses of existing coordination and communication arrangements with a view on harmonizing and formalizing the proposed platform.
- Support the strengthening of Nepal’s negotiation capacity on Climate Change matters through systematic analysis of available materials, based on concrete requests
- Support the Government in clarifying institutional affiliations, roles and responsibilities around Climate Change issues in Nepal and facilitate government ownership, cross-sectoral coordination and multi-sectoral involvement of respective communication and coordination processes.
5. Facilitation all stakeholder consultation processes within the NAPA process.
- Facilitate all stakeholder consultation processes required as input to formulation of a NAPA document
- Facilitate regional and national workshops, with a view of incorporating inputs received by various stakeholders into the NAPA process
- Facilitate public review processes of draft and final NAPA documents
- Plan and perform a series of exchange visits and field study tours to different vulnerable regions in Nepal to assess public communication and learning needs on climate change.
- Support and organize dissemination of climate change information and awareness activities for various stakeholders at various levels
Competencies
- Effective communication skills and ability to establish good working relationships with national and local authorities, donors, NGOs and international interlocutors
- Ability to work with multi donor funded projects and in the working conditions of a government ministry
- Displays sensitivity and adaptability to issues of culture, gender, religion, race, age and different nationalities
- Ability to travel under harsh conditions within the country whenever required
- Excellent computer literacy
- Ability to promote and maintain a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office
- Excellent ability to quickly grasp and synthesize inputs from a range of disciplines related to climate change
- Work experience of Asian context (familiarity with a multi-hazard country will be a strong asset)
- Excellent networking skills and ability to enhance knowledge and skills of the NAPA preparation team
- Self-motivated ability to work with minimum supervision
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, knowledge management and facilitating communities of practice, team oriented work style, interest and experience of working in multi-cultural environment.
Impact of Results
- Strong donor coordination and networking mechanism in place.
- Involvement of stakeholders in the NAPA formulation process will be ensured.
- Sustainable and routinely updated climate change knowledge and learning platform is established
- A multi-stakeholder Framework for Action for Climate Change in Nepal is developed
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- An advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in disciplines such as environmental science, natural resource management, environment law, public administration or a relevant subject.
Experience:
- At least five (5) years of work experience in coordinating and facilitating consultative processes, ideally in the fields of climate change or climate risk management.
- Demonstrated previous work experience on climate change issues, preferably in developing countries
- Demonstrated track record in communications, knowledge management and facilitation of communities of practice
- Ability to quickly analyze complex stakeholder setups and synthesize information from a variety of different sources in a concise manner, suitable for targeted follow-up
- Strong interest in knowledge management and the implementation of innovative ideas in a challenging multi-stakeholder context
- Knowledge about the NAPA process and ability to quickly acquaint him/herself with the respective guidelines and documents will be an advantage
Language requirements:
- Fluency in both written and spoken English and Knowledge of another UN language desirable.