Background
Central Asia with its vast arid and semi arid areas is among the most sensitive regions in the world to climate variability and long-term change. Water is the most precious and conflict-prone natural resource in the region. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, large quantities of water are stored in the mountain glaciers. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have huge and mostly unexplored oil and gas deposits. At the same time, almost half of the population of these countries live in poverty and lack access to sufficient natural resources to sustain their livelihoods, while the countries' wealth is unevenly distributed.
Under these circumstances the global climate change poses serious additional threats to the region's environment, ecological and socio-economic systems. This requires urgent attention and concerted action by the international community, governments, private sector and civil society of the region. Most Central Asian governments are yet to develop adaptive policies to: i) protect climate-sensitive public goods, such as water supply and land productivity; ii) adjust fiscal and regulatory policy to create private sector incentives for adaptation; and iii) establish performance standards and codes so that private and public investments of long-lived capital and infrastructure remain robust under future climate.
Central Asia Adaptation Programme
UNDP is seeking to partner with interested organizations to support integrated and comprehensive approaches to climate change adaptation in Central Asia . The main objective of such regional programme is to assist the countries of Central Asia in adjusting their national development processes to address climate change risks. The programme will address the main policy, institutional capacity and financial barriers to systematic adaptation in Central Asia with particular focus on water, land and food production systems.
For this purpose, UNDP is looking to hire an international consultant to support the development of the project document. The International Consultant will work closely with the UNDP Country Offices (UNDP CO) in all five countries of Central Asia under the guidance of UNDP’s Regional Programme Analyst and with technical support from UNDP Regional Technical Advisor for Climate Change Adaptation (RTA).
Scope of Assignment
The assignment will include review of on-going and planned national programmes, and policies of relevance to climate change adaptation. The assignment will identify national policies, which are vulnerable to climate change. In contrast, some environment and development programmes - such as those in rural development, disaster risk reduction, poverty reduction, and governance - are likely to present opportunities for reducing vulnerability to climate change. All countries have prepared National Communications for climate change. These climate change initiatives, together with development programmes with potential to support adaptation, will provide the platform for designing effective adaptation programmes.
Under the guidance of the Regional Programme Analyst and Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) of UNDP Environment and Energy Group (EEG) and in full collaboration with the UNDP Country Office, the consultant will undertake project document formulation missions in each country of Central Asia. The mission will include consultations with key partners in:
- National, municipal and local Government, including those involved in planning, finance, agriculture, water works, health, and environment;
- Development banks/ UN and bilateral agencies;
- Private sector (e.g., commercial residential and industrial investors, farm enterprises);
- Civil society (community groups); and
- National institutions, including research.
Duties and Responsibilities
The International Consultant will be expected to undertake the following tasks:
1. Undertake a desk review of all relevant documents for background information and initial situational analysis. At a minimum, the following documents will be made available to the consultant at least 1 week prior to his/her arrival in the country:
- National poverty reduction strategy/development strategy: for information on adaptation-relevant priorities and economic investments; For all countries: National Communications;
- Sectoral strategies and policy documents (which sector depends on national adaptation priorities) - for information on economic investments being made/likely to be made;
- Related UNDP Country Programming Instruments; including Country Programme Documents(CPDs), Country Programme Action Plans (CPAPs) and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)- for information on expressed commitments and for identifying UN agencies can partner with UNDP under the proposed program; and
- Relevant ongoing and planned projects and programmes.
2. Work closely with the country offices to draft a Project Document (no more than 30 pages plus annexes), using a prescribed UNDP template. The International Consultant must also be prepared to:
- Undertake a field mission in all five participating countries of the Central Asia Adaptation Programme. Participate in an initial meeting with the UNDP CO Resident Representative, environmental focal point and disaster risk reduction focal point to ensure a shared understanding of mission purpose and deliverables, institutional entry points, government processes and champions to help achieve consensus on the project document;
- Ensure that all relevant national stakeholders are consulted during preparation of the Project Document to understand: a) national development priorities that are likely to be affected by climate change; b) the root causes of national vulnerability to climate change; c) whether the proposed adaptation solutions have been tried before, and which are the barriers to implementing/scaling up; d) how the project will complement, reinforce and build on existing investments; and e) the benefits of an adaptation programme to create systemic shift and the catalytic role of demonstration projects within the programme. Seeking out this information may require setting up additional consultations and accessing additional reports;
- Design the project following the rationale of the attached concept, ensuring that the programme includes the regional component of cross-country dialogue and knowledge sharing; and national components outlining critical adaptation priorities to be addressed in the framework of the programme;
- In consultations with the COs, identify implementing partners and agree with them on implementation arrangements;
- Take responsibility for ensuring that the Project Document meets the UNDP’s quality standards; and
- Finalise the Project Document, including addressing comment and input from reviewers, with support from the CO, Regional Programme Analyst and RTA.
Conduct of work
- The International Consultant will report directly to the Regional Programme Analyst, with technical guidance from RTA.
- The International Consultant with support of the COs will obtain the appropriate national policy documents; and access the appropriate stakeholders for consultation on the project design.
- The International Consultant will anchor the design of the project in evidence and information extracted from existing national policy documents and in stakeholder consultations in-country.
Deliverables
- A 30-page project document, plus supporting annexes. The project document should follow the structure and content set out in the annotated template document. This includes articulation of a clear Situation Analysis (problem and root causes, preferred solution and barriers), Strategy (clear outputs and activity results, and indicators including targets), Operational Approach, Results and Resources Framework, Risk Analysis, Annual Work Plan and Budget, Management Arrangements, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, and other relevant annexes such as terms of reference of key project staff, etc). The project design must be substantiated with available evidence of climate risks, costs and feasibility of adaptation response options - and validated through consultations with the main national stakeholders. The project document should draw as far as possible on available quantitative evidence of projected climate change impacts and the proposed solution(s).
- The outputs of the assignment will be used to prepare the Project Document following UNDP’s National Execution Modality (NEX) and underlying principles of national ownership. The national initiatives shall be fully integrated into existing national processes, and programmes, and will avoid the creation of parallel structures.
Timeline
- The duration of assignment will be approximately 40 working days in the period between April 6 and July 1, 2009.
Payment schedule
- Thirty percent (30%) of the total value of the contract will be paid upon delivery and UNDP acceptance of draft project document.
- Seventy (70%) will be paid upon delivery and UNDP acceptance of the final project document.
Competencies
Technical work- Thorough understanding of national policies and programmes, as they relate to climate change.
- Demonstrated understanding of donor-funded national climate change programmes and projects.
- Demonstrated knowledge, analytical skills and relevant experience in climate change.
- Sound, practical understanding of market economics and how regulatory and fiscal policies can help to allocate resources equitably, applying this in particular to the agricultural, livestock and water sectors.
- Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily and to turn information from various sources into a coherent project document.
- Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high-ranking members of international, regional and national institutions.
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
- Good oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors.
- Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesise project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports.
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
- Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
- Good team player, self starter, has ability to work under minimum supervision and maintain good relationships.
Required Skills and Experience
Education- Masters degree in environment, economics, development, or a closely related field. Technical knowledge of the implications of climate change on development, finance, environment and other relevant fields is critical.
- A minimum of 10 years relevant work experience.
- Demonstrated solid knowledge of climate change adaptation and development.
- Demonstrated experience in project development, implementation or management. Experience in design of adaptation projects would be an asset.
- Experience in the policy development process associated with environment and sustainable development an asset.
- Experience in working and collaborating with governments an asset.
- Excellent knowledge of English including writing and communication skills, knowledge of Russian will be an asset.
- Experience of work in Central Asian Region would be an asset.
Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply on-line through this web page.
The application should contain:
- filled P11 form (the form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_SC_SSA.doc );
- short letter of interest with price quotation indicating the requested lump sum (in USD) for the work envisaged in the job description
Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applicants for UNDP positions, UNDP regrets that it is unable to inform unsuccessful candidates about the outcome or status of the recruitment process.