A.     Project Title: Climate Finance PH for NBS (Accelerating Green and Climate Finance in the Philippines: Nature Based Solutions)

Project Description

The Project aims to increase private sector investments into gender responsive nature-based solutions for climate resilient technologies, innovations, practices and approaches. This, in support of a just transition to resilient and low emission development that sustains nature and ecosystems and protects the rights of all who are affected and at risk. This Project will contribute to the realization of the economic prize offered by investments in nature-based solutions in the Philippines. This Project will demonstrate how these additional investments can generate solid financial returns and contribute to the achievement of other SDG goals such as gender equality, expanding access to clean water, job creation, increase in incomes of local communities, increased food production, increased sustainable consumption and production, enhanced natural resilience, and many more.

There are four main components to achieve the above objective:

Component 1: Data-driven policy making and regulatory strengthening for climate finance. This will support the strengthening of a policy framework for establishing a robust innovative climate finance ecosystem in the Philippines, process data and evidence from sustainability reporting and impact measurement systems, access non-traditional data sets to guide prioritization and the unlocking of investments in gender responsive nature-based solutions, and ultimately propose relevant policy measures. This will be done through targeted analysis and the creation of an integrated data platform.

The Project will establish a regional program of The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance  [The Lab] in the country to curate and de risk the most promising innovative climate finance solutions and facilitate access to capital. Over time, it is expected to create a pipeline of investible projects that can be taken up commercially, under Component 3. Component 2 will also increase the green and climate portfolio financed under the public private partnership facility and facilitate investments into nature-based solutions. This component also links to component 1 in that it draws from lessons-learnt in that part of the project to ensure appropriate and relevant solutions are generated.

Component 3: Capacity building of finance institutions to ensure more flows of funding to climate solutions.  This Component will enable financial actors (regulators, commercial banks, micro-finance providers and national development agencies) to develop their capacities to monitor implementation of the sustainable finance framework and develop the capacities of banking sector to create funding portfolios that align with the framework. It will also draw from information generated in both components 1 and 2.

Component 4: Independent impact monitoring system on SDG impacts of green and climate investments. The Project will support the Securities and Exchange Commission to improve the measurement and reporting guidelines to ensure investors have access to impacts generated by investments, with the aim to attract more gender responsive capital in green and climate projects in the Philippines. It will draw on and provide critical data element generated from component 1 and in turn provide data to inform policies.

The combination of all the four interventions is expected to support green recovery, contribute to accelerate the achievement of the country’s targets under the Nationally Determined Contributions, Philippines Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, and related policies and programmes thereby enhancing resilience of Filipinos and its economy against the impacts of climate change.

Objectives and Scope of Work

1. UNDP, in collaboration with the Government of the Philippines, seeks to engage a qualified National Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist to prepare an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) for the project aligned with the Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) matrix of the Project.

UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) underpin our commitment to mainstream social and environmental sustainability in our Programmes and Projects to support sustainable development. The objectives of the standards are to:

• Strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of Programmes and Projects
• Avoid adverse impacts on people and the environment
• Minimize, mitigate, and manage adverse impacts where avoidance is not possible
• Strengthen UNDP and partner capacities for managing social and environmental risks
• Ensure full and effective stakeholder engagement, including through a mechanism to respond to complaints from project-affected people

A key mechanism to ensure these standards are applied is through UNDP’s project-level Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) which is a requirement for all proposed projects. The objectives of the SESP are to (a) Integrate the SES Overarching Principles (human rights, gender equality, and environmental sustainability); (b) Identify potential social and environmental risks and their significance; (c) Determine the Project's risk category (Low, Moderate, High); and (d) Determine the level of social and environmental assessment and management required to address potential risks and impacts. The ESFM or a stand-alone management plan for the project shall be developed with the support from the international consultants and national consultants, in line with UNDP’s Guidance Note on Assessment and Management. UNDP’s SES and SESP came into effect on January 1, 2015. All guidance on UNDP's Social and Environmental Safeguards can be found in the SES Toolkit.

2) Final SESP matrix. The SESP matrix of the Project has been prepared. During the course of ESMF preparation, however, additional risks and mitigation measures might be identified. The latter will have to be integrated in the Project’s SESP.

3)  Final Deliverables:

1. Finalize and complete ESMF; and
2. Update Social and Environmental Screening (SESP) matrix, including management measures to mitigate risks and recommendations for design of project interventions, to be incorporated into the Project Document.

D. Expected Outputs and Deliverables

E.         Institutional Arrangement

• For the duration of the contract, the Consultant shall work under the supervision of the Climate Action Team, headed by the Team Leader, ably assisted by the Programme Analyst, and with whom all outputs shall be submitted and through whom all communications shall be coursed or copied.
• The consultant will work closely with the Bangkok Regional Hub Technical Specialist who provides technical inputs, guidance and quality assurance on the finalization of the Project Document.
• The Consultant is expected to provide his/her own laptop for the work requirement. S/he will be provided with desk space and access to office facilities and equipment. S/he will also be support by UNDP staff for administrative and logistic requirements, as necessary.
• A period of one (1) week [7 working days] will be the estimated lead time for UNDP or Project Implementing Partners to review outputs, give comments, certify approval / acceptance of outputs, etc. 
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F.         Duration of Work

• To undertake the tasks and deliver the expected outputs, the consultant shall be engaged for a period of 15 working days spread over 1 month (25 February 2022 to 25 March 2022), unless revised in a mutually agreed upon timetable between the Consultant and UNDP.

G.        Duty Station

• The duty station is in Manila, Philippines.
• If local travel is not permitted due to travel restrictions, the consultant is required to do the work online, including spearheading consultations and meetings.
• In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work and travel of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government. Field work, trainings, meetings, and coordination shall be done in compliance with community quarantine policies.
• The Consultant will not be required to report to office regularly but status report on the outputs shall be expected from time to time.

H. Qualification of the Consultant

The Offers received will be evaluated using a combined scoring method - where technical proposal will be weighted 70 points and combined with the price offer which will be weighted  30 points. 

The CV  will be reviewed using the criteria in the table below. Only offerors who will obtain a minimum of 70% or 49 out of 70 obtainable points  will be shortlisted and considered for evaluation of financial proposal.

I.          Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

1. The Contractor should send the financial proposal based on a lump-sum amount for the delivery of the outputs identified below. The total amount quoted shall be “all inclusive” (professional daily fees X number of days, communications, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor should be factored into the final amount submitted in the proposal. Travel, as deemed relevant by UNDP and compliant with government guidelines on community quarantine, will be arranged and paid for by UNDP and should not be included in the financial proposal.

2. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the Contractor must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration

3. The contract price will be fixed output-based price. Any deviations from the output and timeline will be agreed upon between the Contractor and UNDP.

4. Payments will be done upon satisfactory completion of the delivery by target due dates. Outputs will be certified by the one (1) week [7 working days] prior to release of payments.

J.         Recommended Presentation of Offer

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

1. UNDP Personal History Form (P11) or Curriculum Vitae, indicating all past experiences from similar projects, to prove criteria cited in technical qualification. The applicant must indicate specifically his/her role in the aforementioned experiences, e.g, Team leader, team member, Lead researcher, etc. below is a proposed format to be provided, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;

1. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided, and clearly stating the payment percentage as indicated in this TOR. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. 

K.         Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

To select the best offer for this post, the combined scoring method will be used where the qualifications will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.  

Offerors must upload in one (1) file the documents mentioned above.

Templates for a) P11 Personal History Form and b)  Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal (Annex 2) are available through the link below. UNDP General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contractors  are also available:

http://gofile.me/292aN/FJEcICt8l

Incomplete submission of required documents may result in disqualification.

Please see the deadline of submissions above.

Because of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.