Background

The objective of the GEF Project Preparation Grant (PPG) is to develop the project concept into a full project: Developing National Capacity of Turkmenistan through Improving Regulatory Environment towards Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building Sector. The project aims to support Turkmenistan’s low carbon development in achievement of climate mitigation goals by reducing GHG emissions from multi-family residential buildings sector and by improved monitoring of energy use in public buildings. This will be achieved by improving regulatory framework in construction sector by upgrading the existing and adoption of new norms and building codes to increase energy efficiency of residential buildings, including gradual mandatory installation of energy management and information systems (EMIS) in new public buildings and reduce GHG emissions from the sector. Project will also aim to build national capacity across the country on energy efficient solutions via knowledge building and management, dissemination of results through specialized capacity building trainings and awareness raising events.

Component 1 of the project focuses on demonstration of the costs involved and the energy efficiency gains to be achieved via the upgrade of the new buildings to a nearly zero-energy standard to prove that such a standard is economically beneficial to the public budget during the life-time of the measures and that the measures can be procured and installed locally.

Component 2 of the Project aims to define and put into operation the necessary policy improvements, standards and regulations as well as an institutional mechanism to scale up energy efficiency in buildings sector.

Component 3 of the project will be structured around capacity building, knowledge management and monitoring. Component will focus on preparation of knowledge and training materials on project results and world best practices on energy-efficient and low carbon housing and public sector buildings to use and disseminate at the local, regional and national levels as well as to introduce into curricula of higher education institutions.

Purpose, objectives and expected outcomes of the consultancy:

The objective of the PPG is to develop a full-sized project that aims to provide the long-term solution for sustainable development of building sector through improvement of energy efficiency in residential and public buildings across the country. The end result of assignment will be completed Request for CEO Endorsement and Project Document for the UNDP-GEF FSP “Developing National Capacity of Turkmenistan through Improving Regulatory Environment towards Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building Sector”.

The International Gender and Safeguards Specialist will develop mandatory project Annexes related to (i) application of gender-specific considerations in the policy and regulatory amendments related to energy consumption and services, (ii) gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment, (iii) social and environmental safeguards (iv) potential impacts of climate change on the project and need for climate vulnerability assessment 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 as well as in-depth understanding of social and environmental safeguards framework and is expected to closely work with the GEF PPG Team Leader and the team of national consultants to conduct relevant technical studies and reviews, prepare mandatory Annexes and contribute to the Validation Workshop and Finalized Project Document (ProDoc). 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UNDP Programme Specialist on Resilience, Climate and Energy, UNDP CO and in coordination with the GEF PPG Team Leader and experts team and as informed by guidance from the UNDP NCE Regional Technical Advisor, the International Consultant (acting in his/her individual capacity) will be tasked with the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Prepare inputs and support the required technical analyses/studies, as agreed with the GEF PPG Team Leader, including:

• Review the SESP pre-screening of the PIF; complete the UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP), a simplified Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) with some of the structural components (batteries), waste disposal/management plan(s) and other site-specific plans and support the detailed assessment of all project risks including consultations with local stakeholders;
• 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 with the help from the national PPG team, 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;
• 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;
• Advise on gender responsive stakeholder analysis and consultations and ensure that they are complete and comprehensive;
• Prepare the climate change vulnerability assessment 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 and;
• 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 B):

• Complete the SESP and simplified ESMF, based on assessments undertaken during Component A and detailed development of project interventions, and identify management measures to mitigate risks to be incorporated into the ProDoc;
• Prepare the Gender Mainstreaming Plan, with appropriate budget and identification of appropriate project interventions to ensure gender mainstreaming including at project demonstration sites;
• 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;
• Provide inputs for the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan to ensure it is Socially Inclusive and Gender Responsive;
• Prepare the Gender Action Plan and Budget;
• Support the agreements on project management arrangements and ensure that gender and safeguards are adequately incorporated into these arrangements.

3. Validation Workshop (Component C):

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

4. Final Deliverables:

• Finalized Social and Environmental Screening (SESP);
• Finalized Simplified Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF);
• Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming Plan;
• 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; Appropriate inputs to the final UNDP-GEF project document based on guidance from the PPG Team Leader.

5. Review, respond and/or incorporate all comments received from the STAP and GEF Secretariat on project document and the GEF CEO Endorsement Request for final submission of the project:

• Finalized UNDP Project Document and GEF CEO Endorsement Request with all relevant documentation (Mandatory annexes, GEF Response sheet, GHG Tracking Tool, Social Screening and other assessments) prepared and accepted for submission to the GEF.

Deliverables and timeframe:

Deliverable 1 prepared through actions 1-3 above: 

• Relevant Technical Studies and Reviews within the Component A conducted and inputs prepared;
• Relevant contributions to the ProDoc, CEO Endorsement Request and Mandatory Annexes prepared;
• Contributions to the Validation Workshop, including relevant revisions resulted from the workshop.

Location: Home based with 7 days mission to Turkmenistan. Number of days: 20 consultancy days (September 2022 – March 2023)

Deliverable 2 prepared through action 4:    

• Finalized Social and Environmental Screening (SESP);
• Finalized, Simplified Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF);
• Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming Plan;
• Relevant inputs to Stakeholder Engagement Plan;
• Inputs to the final UNDP-GEF Project Document (Please see Annotated NCE VF Project Document Template).  

Location: Home based. Number of days: 20 consultancy days (April – May 2023)

Deliverable 3 prepared through action 5:    

• Review, response and addressing all comments received from the STAP and GEF Secretariat related to gender and safeguards issue. 

Location: Home based. Number of days: 5 consultancy days (June – December 2023).

Payment conditions:

This is an installment-based contract that should cover the costs of consultancy required to produce the above deliverables. The final schedule of payments will be agreed upon in the beginning of consultancy. Payment will be released in three installments: 1st installment: 45% (for deliverable 1), 2nd installment 45% (for deliverable 2), and 3rd installment 10% (for deliverable 3) upon timely submission of respective deliverables and their acceptance by UNDP Turkmenistan.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of and extensive experience working with UN human rights mechanisms;
• Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills;
• Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet required deadlines;
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development;
• Cultural sensitivity;
• Diplomatic skills;
• Good ability in partnering and networking;
• Excellent analytical and drafting skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as gender studies, gender and development, environmental sciences, environmental management, environmental policy and/or sustainable development.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of gender mainstreaming, community development, and social and environmental impact assessment, safeguards assessment and mitigation/management plans;
• 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 as per GEF standards;
• Prior experience in the safeguards assessments and processes of international organizations and donors, such as World Bank, UNDP, etc;
• 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;
• Experience with project development and results-based management methodologies is highly desired;
• Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills are required.

Language requirements:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, knowledge of Russian is a strong asset.

Submission of applications:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/ information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Brief (1-2 pages) description of the methodology for the assignment;
• Financial Proposal with the references to (1) the daily rate for the assignment and within the timing scale indicated in the present TOR, and (2) any other expenses. Template of the form can be found at: http://www.tm.undp.org/content/turkmenistan/en/home/procurement.html . The UNDP will enter into an Individual Contract based on a lump sum amounts. The financial proposal shall represent a detailed, justified and “all inclusive” amount.  In order to assist UNDP in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount, including: a daily fee for the tasks and an estimated duration as specified in this announcement and any other possible costs (including communication, printing, etc.);
• Cover letter explaining why they are the most suitable candidate for the assignment;
• Resume /CV.

Evaluation of proposals:

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the combined scoring methodology. When using this method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant and
• Having received the highest score – out of 100 

Out of the maximum score, the score for technical criteria equals 70% - maximum 100 points, and for financial criteria 30%.

The technical evaluation will take into account the following as per the scoring provided:

• Appropriate education – 25 pts;
• Relevant experience, including GEF  – 35 pts;
• Methodology – 20 pts;
• Additional skills (language, etc.) – 10 pts;
• Assessment by Interview– 10 pts.

Financial proposal – 30% of total evaluation.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 65 and older, and if the travel is required, shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination is to be cleared by the UN physicians and shall be paid by the consultant.