Background

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.  BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.  BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes and assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.  BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

Climate change mitigation – or reducing greenhouse gas emissions - is essential to fulfilling commitments to the Paris Agreement and limiting the global mean temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. UNDP, with more than 280 climate change mitigation projects and programs in over 110 countries, is a key actor supporting countries in their emission reduction plans, contributing to ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions.  Activities in energy, as well as forests and agriculture, will be critical to meeting global mitigation objectives. 

UNDP’s approach to forestry aligns with the SDG 15 and contributes to UNDP's 'signature solution' on environment and nature-based solutions for development. Deforestation and forest degradation accounts for more than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and it is clear that the stabilization of global temperatures cannot be achieved without reducing emissions from the forest sector. UNDP's Climate and Forests programme supports countries to conserve and sustainably manage forests and ensure sustainable and equitable development paths that lead towards carbon neutrality. More information here: www.climateandforests-undp.org

Forest supports up to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity and can offset up to one-third of the carbon emissions to reach the climate commitments. However, forest sector receives about 1% of total climate finance. The engagement of private sector companies with ambitious mitigation targets related to forests can contribute to cover this gap.

On 24th September 2018, a global Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Eni SPA and UNDP. The MoU provides a framework of cooperation and facilitates and strengthens collaboration between the two institutions. Stemming from this global MoU and following a meeting between the CEO of Eni and the President of the Republic of Ghana on October 3rd, 2018, Ghana became the first country to operationalize the MoU and initiate concrete collaborations.

Through a Development Services Agreement with Eni, the UNDP’s Climate and Forests Programme Team based on its expertise garnered over the last 10 years with REDD+ will develop, for Eni,  a large climate mitigation programme in the AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use) and energy sectors in Ghana. This integrated REDD+ programme will address the drivers of deforestation, forest degradation and the barriers to the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks while also promoting energy efficiency in Ghana.

The expert to be hired will be part of a team of consultants to provide support for the agreement with ENI. Therefore, the consultant will firstly clearly map what is required to address the drivers of deforestation and degradation at multiple scales and across multiple agents will be required. This information will then be used to design solutions that will change behaviors to protect and enhance forests and support other sustainable sand productive land uses.

These solutions will comprise the financing plan which will reflect the economics of what is required to implement the jurisdictional REDD+ Programme. The financing plan will be developed by the consultant alongside the process of designing what is needed to implement the REDD+ Strategy and make it operational at this subsidiary level.

An Operations Plan, to also be developed by the consultant, will accompany the Financial Plan and any new requirements from the perspective of the governments and principal land managers will be clearly identified.

Institutional Arrangement

The Officer will be supervised by, and report to the Global Advisor, Climate and Forests Programme, UNDP/BPPS. S/he will work closely with the Ghanaian Government counterparts, and especially colleagues at the Forestry Commission working on financial planning, the UNDP Country Office, the Ghana Eni country Office, and the Climate and Forests Regional Technical Specialist.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will carry out the following activities:

• a consultative process with local and national stakeholders, participation from the key actors and
• capacity building of host institutions as required. 

The mitigation programme this consultancy supports builds on the policies and measures included in Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and its REDD+ strategy whilst ensuring compliance with UNDP’s social and environmental and fiduciary management standards and other relevant market-based provisions.

Specifically, the consultant will:

1. Identify from a list of proposed interventions the most profitable and sustainable land use activities that produce emission reductions and removals and generate agricultural and forest related revenue.
2. Integrate risks mitigation and safeguard measures in the financial and operational planning.
3. Establish an operational structure for the management of the programme.
4. Identify/quantify the additional budgetary expenditures that the Forestry Commission will need to incur at a programme level.
5. Develop a financial projection for each activity/intervention of the REDD+ Program.
6. Identify/quantify the expenditures that the programme entity and other land managers must incur to effectively support implementation of the interventions in (1) that have been prioritised.
7. Quantify additional finance required from multiple sources to create long-term financial sustainability.
8. Improve programme design taking in consideration additional policy measures that would be required to provide better enabling conditions for the interventions.
9. Complete a financial and operational plan for the programme.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience