Background

The Project Identification Form (PIF) titled ‘Effectively Managing Networks of Marine Protected Areas in Large Marine Ecosystems in the ASEAN Region (ASEAN ENMAPS) was approved by the GEF Council during its meeting in December 2021. A Project Preparation Grant (PPG) was approved to develop the project document and other requirements for GEF CEO endorsement.

Table 1. brief description of the Project’s objectives, grant amounts, components, project location and the PPG team composition.

UNDP seeks to engage a qualified National Gender and Safeguards Specialist to support the PPG Team Leader in developing the mandatory project Annexes related to application of social and environmental safeguards and support adherence of project development to UNDP’s SESP and specific requirements, as appropriate. The consultant will be a gender and social inclusion expert with experience in-depth gender analysis and local community engagement. The consultant will be contributing to the delivery of the PPG tasks as specified below.

The National Gender and Safeguards Specialist will support all the preparatory work required to draft and finalize all the documentation required by the GEF for CEO Endorsement, specifically on tasks related to gender analysis and action plan, environmental and social risks assessments and developing management plans associated with the project. The PPG phase will be underpinned by a participatory approach, with regular consultation and working meetings with all key PPG stakeholders throughout the PPG phase. Specific attention will be given to gender issues by undertaking a gender analysis to ensure optimal involvement of women in, and beneficiation from project interventions.

UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) underpin UNDP’s 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 to 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.

UNDP’s SES and SESP came into effect January 1, 2015. All guidance on UNDPs Social and Environmental Safeguards can be found in the SES Toolkit.

The consultant will also be responsible for developing the Stakeholder Engagement Plan in the national context, which lists the main potential partners and stakeholder to the Project at national level, to be confirmed following selection and capacities assessments. Stakeholder engagement will focus on negotiating and generating buy-in and appropriation by specific partners and beneficiaries who are taking responsibility for certain activities. The Project will prioritize such interventions and partner strategies to deliver outputs in an appropriate sequential manner. The Project will ensure that stakeholders and partners are well-informed and updated on the intended project goals and delivery. The timeline of Stakeholder meetings, which will be held regularly need to be included in the Stakeholder Engagement Plan, to ensure interaction not only between the Project and individual stakeholders and partners but also between various stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of the Assignment:

Role:

The National Gender and Safeguards Specialist will develop the mandatory project Annexes related to application of social and environmental safeguards and support adherence of project development to UNDP’s SESP and specific requirements, as appropriate. The consultant will be a gender and social inclusion expert with experience in-depth gender analysis and local community engagement.

Responsibilities and Deliverables:

The list below outlines key responsibilities and deliverables of this contract. The PPG Initiation Plan for these projects provides further and more detailed guidance regarding the responsibilities of the prospective PPG team and must be consulted accordingly.
 

1. Preparatory Technical Studies and Reviews (Component 1): Prepare inputs and support the required analyses/studies, as agreed with the GEF PPG Team Leader, including:

1. Review the SESP pre-screening of the PIF; complete the UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP), and support the detailed assessment of all project risks including consultations with local stakeholders;
2. Assess presence of Indigenous Peoples/ethnic minorities within project landscapes and their interests. If present, assess potential impacts of the project on rights and interests, lands, territories, resources, and traditional livelihoods and determine when FPIC applies in accordance with national contexts and preferences. Carry out consultations with communities at demonstration landscape to assess level of understanding and capacity to give consent and identify community preferences for FPIC process. Based on these assessments, and if relevant, integrate relevant matters as needed including FPIC into project design and into the comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement Plan;
3. Prepare the gender analysis and action plan and work closely with the GEF PPG Team Leader to ensure its findings are meaningfully integrated into the project’s strategy, theory of change and results framework;
4. Lead gender responsive stakeholder analysis and consultations and ensure that they are complete and comprehensive; and
5. Support the completion of any additional studies that are determined to be needed for the preparation of the ProDoc and all other final outputs as guided by the PPG Team Leader.

2. Formulation of the ProDoc, CEO Endorsement Request and Mandatory Annexes as well as project specific annexes (Component 2):

1. Complete the SESP, based on assessments undertaken during Component 1 and detailed development of project interventions, and identify management measures to mitigate risks to be incorporated into the ProDoc;
2. Prepare ESMF and UNDP Risk Register
3. Prepare the Gender Mainstreaming Plan, with appropriate budget and identification of appropriate project interventions to ensure gender mainstreaming including at project demonstration sites;
4. Using the findings from the gender analysis, provide inputs to the project’s results framework and theory of change; ensure gender considerations are integrated into the project’s theory of change;
5. Provide inputs for the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan to ensure it is Socially Inclusive and Gender Responsive;
6. Prepare the Gender Action Plan and Budget;
7. Support the agreements on project management arrangements and ensure that gender and safeguards are adequately incorporated into these arrangements.

3. Validation Workshop (Component 3):

1. Contribute to the validation workshop; and
2. Support all necessary revisions that arise during the workshop, as appropriate.

4. Final Deliverables:

1. Finalized Social and Environmental Screening (SESP)
2. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) as needed
3. Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and/or Environmental and Social Management Assessment (ESIA) as needed
4. Former Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)
5. Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming Plan
6. Appropriate inputs to the comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement Plan including on gender-responsive consultation and consultations with local communities and any Indigenous Peoples or Ethnic Minorities present within the demonstration landscape; and
7. Appropriate inputs to the final UNDP-GEF project document based on guidance from the PPG Team Leader.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Table 2. PPG Milestones, dates, fee disbursement percentage and required approvals

Institutional Arrangements

• The Consultant will be home-based and will report to, and be directly supervised by UNDP Country office and will coordinate closely with the corresponding Ecosystems and Biodiversity Regional Technical Advisor based in Bangkok;
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own workstation (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;
• The consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones; and
• Payments will be made upon submission of a certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on outputs delivered.

Duration of the Work:

Maximum of 40 days over 18 months.

Duty Station:

Home based with possible mission travel.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism, and;
• Demonstrable experience with GEF project development, implementation and/or evaluation with capacity development elements.

Functional Competencies

• Able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.
• Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
• Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
• Works well in a team;
• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback; and
• Fluent English and Thai language (both oral and written) and excellent communication and presentation skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as environmental assessment, gender studies, gender and development, women and environment, or women and sustainable development;
• Minimum 7 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of gender mainstreaming, community development, and social and environmental safeguards risk assessment and mitigation;
• Experience carrying out participatory gender analysis; experience collecting and formulating gender responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated data and preparing gender responsive project analysis; developing gender action plans;
• Prior experience in the safeguards assessments and processes of international organizations and donors such as World Bank, UNDP, including SESP, ESMF, Risk Register and targeted stand-alone social and environmental management risk plans;
• Demonstrated understanding of the links between sustainable development, social and gender issues;
• Demonstrated experience working on policy and programmatic issues with national and local governments and civil society organizations including community organizations;
• Demonstrated experience in carrying out consultations with Indigenous Peoples, FPIC, protection of cultural heritage, and/or community engagement is highly desired;
• Experience working in Thailand or in Asia-Pacific on related projects is highly desired;
• Experience with project development and results-based management methodologies is highly desired;
• Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills are required; and
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and fluency in national language.
• Knowledge and experience on Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and biodiversity conservation is an advantage.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The consultant will submit financial proposal that includes only professional fee and associated cost to be incurred in completing the assignment. Given the current situation in travel restriction, travel may be arranged either by the consultant or UNDP where the cost is more effective. Any travel cost, living allowance and any other applicable cost will be approved and reimbursed as per UNDP travel rules and procedures. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract).

Travel:

• Missions to the location of the Validation workshop (TBD) with an estimated duration of up to 5 days might be required (subject to COVID-19 situation vis-a-vis travel restriction policy of the government.);
• UNDP will bear the cost of the travel on actual basis once the travel is confirmed.  In general, UNDP could not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed based on provision of supporting documentation.

• The BSAFE course must be completed before the commencement of travel including any training on COVID-19 safety;
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

• Only those applications that are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Incomplete applications will not be considered;
• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language) will be based on a maximum 70 points. Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 50% (40 out of 70 points) from the review of education, experience and language will be deemed technically compliant and considered for financial evaluation;
• Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
• The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive lump sum fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment).
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation required:

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page then the uploading option for the required document will be available.

Please group all your document into one (1) single PDF document as the application system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Interested candidates must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Financial Proposal (in USD) using the template provided as Annex III 

• [Financial proposal: Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided for the entire assignment. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc. and travel cost) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the proposed fee submitted in the proposal]
• 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.

2. P11 / Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

**Failure to submit the above-mentioned documents or Incomplete proposals shall result in disqualification.

**Please group all your document into one (1) single PDF document as the application system only allows to upload maximum one document.

 The short-listed candidates may be contacted, and the successful candidate will be notified.

Annexes:

Annex I - TOR GenderSafeguardsExpert_Thailand NC3
Annex II - General_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Contracts_Individual_Consultants
Annex III - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal
Annex IV - P11 Form_for_ICs_optional
Annex V - Procurement Notice

***All documents can be downloaded at:https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=87922

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to procurement.th@undp.org under Subject: JobAds 104611 - National Gender and Safeguards Specialist