Historique

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an expected international mechanism to reward developing countries for reducing their rates of deforestation and forest degradation, and for conserving, sustainably managing and enhancing forest carbon stocks.

The UN-REDD Programme is the United Nations collaborative initiative on REDD+, launched in 2008 and builds on the convening role and technical expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide assistance to developing countries in building necessary capacities to engage in REDD+.

As a signatory to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sri Lanka is committed to addressing the threat of human-induced climate change in all sectors, both by increasing the resilience of its people and environment through measures to decrease and adaptation to the effects of climate change. 

Sri Lanka’s forests can make a significant contribution to this effect through reducing and sequestering carbon emissions and restoring and maintaining key ecological functions such as regulation and provision of water and non-timber forest products to people in both rural and urban areas. This will require sustainable management of forests by all relevant sectors and actors, including the private sector.   The Government, under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy (MoERE), seeks to maximize this contribution by developing a national strategy for REDD+. The UN-REDD National Programme (NP) in Sri Lanka was launched on 7 June 2013 to support this effort.

Sri Lanka recognizes the critical role played by the private sector in both affecting the land-use and forestland cover of the country and supporting various efforts to manage country’s forests sustainably. To ensure that the private sector is part of the solution in ensuring the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of REDD+, the Government of Sri Lanka acknowledges the importance of establishing effective dialogue with the private sector to seek ways to jointly support sustainable management of forest resources in Sri Lanka. This is part of a stakeholder engagement process to ensure full and effective participation in this effort by all relevant stakeholders.  

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop an engagement plan for the private sector and initiate preliminary activities in the context of REDD+ process in Sri Lanka. The Private Sector Engagement Specialist will work with the Forest Department to achieve the tasks detailed under the Responsibilities section of the Terms of Reference. The position is of part time basis.

The Private Sector Engagement Specialist will work under the direct guidance of UNDP Technical Advisor for UNREDD programme, with additional guidance from the UNDP Program Officer and Regional Advisors of the UN-REDD Programme. The Consultant should initiate the activities based on the finalized Engagement Plan and should provide monthly progress reports, not exceeding 4 pages.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The Private Sector Engagement Specialist is an expert in private sector dynamics in Sri Lanka and  with a good track record of working with the international organizations in a related area. Further s/he will ensure the quality and timely preparation of all reports and documentation related to the consultancy.

The Private Sector Engagement Specialist will carry out the following tasks:

• Develop an Engagement Plan for the private sector in the context of REDD+;
• The Enagagement Plan should align with the objectives of the UN-REDD National Programme in Sri Lanka as well as with the principles of Mahinda Chinthana and Haritha Lanka Programme. Identify key actors in the sector such as institutions, for example, Chambers of Commerce/Federation of Chambers, public private partnerships, private companies, and others working on agriculture, environment, natural resources, and renewable energy sectors;
• Final report of the preliminary activities conducted, with further recommendations;
• Identify champions/leaders for environmental and social sustainability in the private sector;
• Differentiate between actors that are involved in the supply chains of forest based commodities that are threatening the forests, and actors with a strong focus and proven forest friendly Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes;
• Map these two types of actors based on their levels of interest and influence over sustainable forest management spatially, with further disaggregation by size of corporations and where possible their contributions/commitments to environmental and social sustainability;
• Identify and prioritise key entry points for engagement with the private sector based on the above assessments;
• Recommend steps to be taken based on the identified key entry points, differentiating between preliminary and follow-up activities.
• Organise introductory meeting(s) between key actors with the Sri Lanka UN-REDD National Programme.
  

The key outputs to be delivered by the Private Sector Engagement Specialist are as follows:

• An Engagement Plan for the private sector in the context of REDD+; and
•  Final report of the preliminary activities conducted, with further recommendations.

Compétences

Technical work

• Strong expertise in  the dynamics of private sector investments in environment;
• Familiarity with CSR, safeguards and any other sustainability related strategies of the private sector; 
• Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily.
  

• Maturity and confidence in dealing with the staff of government institutions and private sector;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Good team player who has ability to maintain good relationships.

Functional skills

• Demonstrated leadership, facilitation and coordination skills, ability to manage technical team and long term strategic partnership;
• Excellent communication (both oral and written) and partnership building skills with multi-dimension partners, people skill for conflict resolution and negotiation;
• Computer proficiency, especially related to professional office software packages (Microsoft Office);
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of case studies and progress reports;
• Excellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with colleagues – especially for this case the private sector and UNREDD officials.
  

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Postgraduate degree in business management, public relations, forestry, natural resource management, or international development.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional and practical experience working with private sector, preferably in the environment conservation, forestry at national and sub national levels;
• Minimum 2 years working experience with international organizations will be an added advantage.

Language:

• English with Sinhala or Tamil.