Background

UNDP’s Strategic Plan emphasizes the critical links between environmental sustainability and efforts to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, and strengthen resilience. Drawing on over forty years of experience, UNDP assists countries to implement their obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and to integrate environmental concerns into national and sectoral plans and strategies; secure resources; implement programmes that advance inclusive, sustainable and resilient development, and strengthen livelihoods.

UNDP’s support for environmental management and nationally-owned sustainable development pathways includes the following areas: biodiversity and ecosystem services, including forest and wildlife management and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+); sustainable land management and desertification; water and ocean governance; climate change adaptation and mitigation; sustainable energy use and energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and access; chemicals and waste management; green economy; and extractive industries. UNDP works across these areas to address issues of environmental governance, policy, regulation, capacity development, financing, human rights, gender, technology, South-South learning, and public, private, and civil society partnerships at all levels.

As a leading purveyor of environmental technical assistance and grant financing, UNDP works in 47 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region. UNDP is an accredited multilateral implementing agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Multilateral Fund for Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF), Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). As such, UNDP offers integrated technical services for needs assessment, programme formulation, resource mobilization, implementation oversight, knowledge and results management, and evaluation.

In order to ensure continued support to our initiatives, UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) invites candidates to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Roster of external experts. The process for including candidates in the Expert Roster is described in the later sections of this advertisement.

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applications would need to have expertise in one or more of the following areas: 

1. Natural Resource Management: 
2. Chemicals Management: 
3.  Environmental Governance: 
4. Energy: 
5. Climate Change: 

For detail please refer the competencies section of this adveristment 

Duties and Responsibilities

Individual assignment may include one or more of the following tasks :

Policy and Strategy Development:

• Prepare policy briefs, status papers on developmental challenges/issues based on secondary review of existing literature for evidence-based advocacy and policy dialogue;
• Develop guidelines and national and sub-national strategy in the areas of institutional strengthening;
• Develop institutional and regulatory frameworks to facilitate climate change and adaptation and disaster risk reductioReview policy literature in respect of the subject;
• Formulate strategic national and sub-national development policy and regulatory frameworks;
• Identify barriers and solutions for proposed interventions;
• Identify risks and develop mitigation/management strategies.

Project Design, Formulation & other project related functions:

• Prepare conceptual framework/concept note on new area of work/developmental challenge;
• Provide technical assistance in identification of developmental challenges, target areas, beneficiaries and partners and formulation of implementation strategy for UNDP support;
• Provide technical support in development of new interventions/projects with implementation (operational plan, monitoring and resource requirement), institutional, financial and management arrangements;
• Identify issues and barriers, formulate and implement interventions that focus on removing barriers and address issues;
• Conduct studies on project/program highlights, activities and processes involved;
• Prepare project documents, including reporting documents such as Project Implementation Reviews (PIRs);
• Identify areas/beneficiaries and partners; timing, sequencing of activities; mobilization of finance;
• Conduct gender analysis/assessment to ensure gender mainstreaming and empowerment through all UNDP interventions;
• Prepare project proposals to ensure innovation in concepts, strategies, theory of change, results-orientation using log frames, and incorporation of best practices;
• Develop work plans, budgets, monitoring and procurement plans;
• Review project documents or other project related documents, including reporting documents such as Project Implementation Reviews (PIRs), for quality assurance.

Research and Documentation:

• Undertake secondary research in the new areas of developmental concern based on review of existing literature;
• Develop research design, research questions and scope of work for undertaking primary research in new areas;
• Document good practices, case studies, innovations and pilot models for wider dissemination and sharing;
• Undertake process documentation of models for up scaling;
• Conduct financial and economic modelling.

Capacity Development/Training:

• Based on capacity assessment, develop Capacity Development Plan to achieve the milestones identified and address the identified capacity gaps;
• Develop target specific training tools/tool-kits and manuals based on training needs assessment;
• Design training curriculum, conduct and/or coordinate training programmes for various stakeholders;
• Carry out capacity assessments of public institutions and government institutions for development of strategic interventions for institutional strengthening;
• Design and delivery of training tool-kits, products etc.;
• Conduct, facilitate and/or coordinate trainings and workshops.

Knowledge Management and Communications:

• Prepare knowledge and communications products related to the projects/programs (Audio, Video and print publication material);
• Review of knowledge products (subject, design and content);
• Prepare and publish featured articles and case studies in publications of the UNDP, other pertinent organizations, academic journals;
• Disseminate knowledge and communications products;
• Develop literature on best practices and case studies;
• Contribute to Communities of Practice (CoP);

Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of national and sub-national policies;
• Carry out required independent monitoring and evaluation of UNDP projects;
• Facilitate community and process monitoring;
• Undertake Baseline and client satisfaction surveys;
• Evaluate technical bids.

Competencies

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applicants must have the knowledge and expertise in one or more of the following areas:

1. Natural Resource Management: 

• Ecosystem management; 

• Biodiversity conservation; 

• Protection of Wildlife protection; 

• Sustainable land management; 

• Forestry conservation and management; 

• Water resource management; 

• Coastal and marine resources management. 

2. Chemicals Management: 

• Management and control of ozone-depleting substances (ODS); 

• Management and control of persistent organic pollutants (POPS); 

• Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). 

• Management and control of mercury 

3.  Environmental Governance: 

• Environmental policies, laws and regulatory frameworks; 

• Environmental impact assessments; 

• Environmental finance and economics; 

• Environmental and social safeguards; 

• Indigenous peoples’ rights; 

• Access and benefit sharing; 

• Mainstreaming environment into development planning; 

• Regional and/or multilateral negotiations for the management of shared/trans-boundary resources. 

4. Energy: 

• Energy policies, laws, transition, and regulatory frameworks; 

• Energy efficiency (especially in buildings, appliances and infrastructure); 

• Renewable energy technologies and systems (including solar, wind, thermal, biomass and hydropower); 

• Access to modern energy services (including on- and off-grid distributed power generation technologies, and thermal energy technologies); 

• Waste to energy technologies including circular economy (including methane capture, incineration and anaerobic digestion); 

• Sustainable transportation (including non-motorized and public transport); 

• Sustainable cities (integrated approaches to urban energy and transport needs); 

• Financial instruments and financial modelling. 

5. Climate Change: 

• Climate change modelling and scenarios; 

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., climate change mitigation, carbon capture); 

• Climate finance instruments (including NAMAs, standardized baselines and carbon finance); 

• Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas mitigation measures; 

• Adapting to climate change, including vulnerability assessment and risk mitigation; 

Required Skills and Experience

I. Education:

Degree in Environmental policy, environmental management, biological or earth sciences, forestry, or land management, environmental or electrical engineering, chemistry, environmental or natural resource economics, energy, waste management,Blue economy or related fields.

II. Experience:

• Band 1, Implementation Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 3 years of relevant work experience, or bachelor’s degree in relevant field with minimum 5 years of relevant work experience;
• Band 2, Specialist Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 7 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 3 years of international experience as a requirement;
• Band 3, Senior Advisory: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 12 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 5 years of international experience as a requirement;
• • Demonstrated experience in research, analysis, policy support, programme and project development, project management, knowledge management, and/or monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
  • Proven experience working with a wide variety of development actors including governments, international development organizations (including United Nations agencies), donors and other funding agencies, private sector entities, and/or civil society organizations including community groups, academia and the media;
  • Previous work experience in Africa is an asset.

III. Language:

• Fluency in spoken and written English.
  • or fluency in spoken and written French and intermediate fluency in English;
  • or fluency in spoken and written Spanish and intermediate fluency in English;
  • or fluency in spoken and written Portuguese and intermediate fluency in English

Applications should include:

• A cover letter, clearly identifying the “Areas of Expertise and Sub-Expertise ” as mentioned in the background section above;
• Updated Personal CV and Personal Information Form, including past experience from similar projects, and email, telephone and any other contact details for references;
• Daily professional Fee. This can be indicated on the cover letter 

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above and will be evaluated as per following criteria.

Stage 1:-Establishing a Roster:

• All applicants will be initially screened against the minimum requirements indicated above and those meeting the minimum requirements will be long-listed;
• Long-listed applicants will be evaluated through a Desk review and/or interview against the following criteria based on evident in the submitted application:
  • Demonstrated specialised expertise in a minimum of one of the five areas of expertise mentioned in the ToR: 1) Natural Resources Management, 2) Chemicals Management, 3) Environmental Governance, 4) Energy, and/or 5) Climate Change – 40 points
  • Demonstrated specialised experience in working with UNDP and/or other agencies accredited by the GEF and/or GCF in policy and strategy development, result-based programme/project design and formulation using the logical framework analysis, capacity development, communication and knowledge management, and monitoring and evaluation aspects required for fulfilling the consultancy successfully.Experience in Africa will be considered as an advantage. – 40 points
  • Demonstrable educational qualifications and experience on projects related to the five areas of expertise mentioned above for requisite duration (Band 1, Band 2 or Band 3).– 10 points
  • Demonstrated language skills: excellent oral and written English; Fluency in French, Portuguese and/or Spanish would be an asset or a requirement for some assignment – 10 points. Demonstrated language skills: and ability to write reports, presentations and briefs – 10 points.

Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 70 and above will be included in the roster

Successful candidates will be included in UNDP RBA Experts Roster for a period of 5 years, in one of the “bands” indicated above. However, the addition of an individual in the Roster does not guarantee a contract with UNDP

Stage 2:-Evaluation and call off mechanism for specific assignment /Contracting/:

When a request for services arises, the roster manager shall contact the individuals included in the specific area of expertise with ToR, location and dates of the assignment seeking confirmation of availability, as well as other costs such as living allowance, travel cost, etc. The daily fee quoted by the individual during this application process shall remain as the ceiling fee and cannot be increased upwards for any offered individual assignment(s).

Consultants that confirmed their availability  for Specific assignment will be evaluated in one of the two evaluation criteria that shall be clearly  indicated in the respective assignment ToR

Lowest price and technically compliant offer:

When using this method, the award of a contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as both:

•  Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and;
• Offering the lowest price/cost.

"Responsive/compliant/acceptable” can be defined as fully meeting the TOR provided.

Cumulative analysis:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
  • Technical Criteria weight; [To be determined]
  • Financial Criteria weight; [To be determined]

Only candidates obtaining  the  minimum point specified on the assignment ToR  would be considered for the financial evaluation

The individual selected for the deployment will be contracted as an Individual Contractor to the UNDP.

Travel:

• For each assignment UNDP shall reimburse cost of travel from the place of domicile of the individual to the place of assignment (most direct economy fare). This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources;
• The individual selected for the deployment will be contracted as an Individual Contractor to the UNDP;
• The Contract and its terms and conditions are non-negotiable.

Payment:

Payment(s) shall be made following certification by the hiring UNDP Office that the services related to each deliverable, as specified in the contract, have been satisfactorily performed and the deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified, if any.

Additional Information:

• This call for experts is not linked to other UNDP rosters or to a specific UNDP recruitment opportunity.
• The purpose of this call for experts is to add additional experts to the UNDP RBA Experts Roster. As a result, Candidates who have previously been vetted and maintained in the UNDP RBA Roster/s are not required to apply.
• Due to the large number of applications, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Qualified Women are encouraged to apply.
• Interested individual consultants can submit the above documents in one of the following two addresses;

  • UNDP Jobs site/ UNDP Jobs / or ;

  • procurement.rsca@undp.org;

Interested candidates are strongly advised to carefully review this advertisement, the procurement notice and ToR and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications required. All relevant information including ToR & Procurement Notice can be found (in English and French) on: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=90856

For any clarifications please write to:- rsca.icroster@undp.org.