Background
Over the past three decades, increasing temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and climate hazards – in particular droughts, floods and severe storms (hail, thunder, lightning and violent winds) – have undermined social and economic development in Uganda. Climate hazards have negatively affected the livelihoods of ~150 000 people and resulted in ~74 deaths per year. Notwithstanding these challenges, the current climate information (including monitoring) and early warning systems in Uganda are not functioning as optimally as they could for effectively supporting the adaptive capacity of local communities and key sectors. Without adaptation, the negative effects of climate change will undermine years of development assistance and asset accumulation in Uganda.The “Strengthening climate information and early warning systems in Africa for climate resilient development and adaptation to climate change – Uganda” project, implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment, will: i) establish a functional network of meteorological and hydrological monitoring stations and associated infrastructure to better understand climatic changes; ii) develop and disseminate tailored weather and climate information (including colour-coded alerts – advisories, watches and warnings – for flood, drought, severe weather and agricultural stresses, integrated cost-benefit analyses and sector-specific risk and vulnerability maps) to decision makers in government, private sector, civil society, development partners and local communities in the Teso and Mt Elgon sub-region; and iii) integrate weather and climate information into national policies, annual work plans and local development including the National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and Management, and district and sub-county development plans in priority districts in the Bukedi, Busoga, Elgon, Teso, Acholi, Karamoja and Lango sub-regions. The project is expected to be completed by December 2017.
Project Outcomes:
The project has two outcome areas:
- Enhanced capacity of the Department of Meteorology/Uganda National Meteorology Authority(UNMA) and Department of Water Resource Management (DWRM) to monitor and forecast extreme weather, hydrology and climate change;
- Efficient and effective use of hydro-meteorological and environmental information for making early warnings and long-term development plans.
Rationale of the Consultancy
Basic components of a functioning weather, climate and hydrological monitoring system (including synoptic, agro-meteorological and hydrological stations, satellite receivers, radar and upper air stations) in Uganda have not been updated with appropriate automated equipment and have been insufficiently maintained over the last 20-30 years. Insufficient coverage of meteorological and hydrological observation stations has resulted in limited monitoring of vulnerable regions and populations, e.g. drought conditions (rainfall) are not monitored for agricultural lands, intense rainfall is not monitored in areas prone to landslides and flooding, and rapid rises in rivers are not identified as a precursor to flooding.
The consultant will be responsible for guiding the assessment of the existing meteorological network, and design appropriate capacity building strategies to alleviate the situation.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of WorkAlthough the project is being implemented in Lake Kyoga catchment basin (28 districts comprising: Bukedi, Busoga, Mt Elgon, Teso, Acholi, Karamoja and Lango sub-regions), it will also rehabilitate, equip 12 synoptic stations and link them to the National Meteorological Centre(NMC) in Entebbe through networking. This consultancy will be carried out throughout the country with emphasis in the targeted districts, and will be executed within 30 working days/one and half months.
Consultancy Objectives
The Project Management Unit (PMU) is seeking to engage a consultant to use climate and weather forecasting models to analyse the current status of equipment and human resources in the meteorology sector to enable the UNMA plan its capacity building strategy from current knowledge perspective.
Detailed Consultancy Activities
The Consultant is required to work closely with UNMA, with support from the PMU to:
- Undertake a systematic analysis of existing and planned synoptic, agro/hydro-meteorological stations and AWSs in Uganda to determine gaps in coverage and priority stations for data rescue and rehabilitation. This will include a plan to integrate new stations into the existing UNMA network and to link these with the DWRM hydrological network and forecasting information systems. This activity will link with assessment of the Automatic Water Level System(AWLS);
- Develop an observation network quality control and maintenance toolbox, including remotely accessible and online calibration and training courses, handbooks and manuals for AWSs, AWLSs and manual stations.
- i) build in-house forecasting capacity in the DWRM and UNMA;
- ii) enhance collaboration between the two departments for data collection, data exchange, data processing, data analysis and flood, drought and severe weather risk assessment and warnings; and
- iii) mainstream the online platform and integrated data storage and management systems.
- An Inception Report outlining strategy for the consultancy assignment;• Analysis of existing and planned synoptic, agro/hydro-meteorological stations and AWSs in Uganda;
- Plan to integrate new stations into the existing UNMA network and to link these with the DWRM hydrological network and forecasting information systems;
- Observation network quality control and maintenance toolbox, including remotely accessible and online calibration and training courses, handbooks and manuals for AWSs, AWLSs and manual stations;
- Enhance collaboration between the two departments for data collection, data exchange, data processing, data analysis and flood, drought and severe weather risk assessment and warnings;
- Training Plan and tool kits for in-house forecasting capacity.
- The Consultant will report to Executive Director of Uganda National meteorological Authority and will be facilitated through the Project Management Unit for his/her day-to-day work;
- The Programme Management Unit will support and assistance to gain access to relevant documents and stakeholders for consultations.
Competencies
- Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
- Mature judgment and initiative;
- Ability to think out-of-the-box;
- Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner; Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
- Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
- Initiative and independence.
Required Skills and Experience
Education- A Master’s degree in related fields preferably in Hydrology / Metrology / Hydrometry or subjects related to climate change and or environment management;
- 5 years of relevant experience in hydro-metrics or related disciplines;
- Familiarity with water related disasters in Uganda;
- Proven experience in conducting project evaluations independently;
- Working experience with UNDP or the UN system in general;
- Experience in developing training material.
Language:
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
- Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines including weather and climate and environment management;
Payment shall be by the lump sum modality in the following 3 instalments. These shall be all inclusive and the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.
- Upon signature of contract by both parties and presentation of an approved inception report (1 week after signing of contract) - 20%;
- Presentation of acceptable and approved output 2-4, - 30%;
- Presentation of acceptable and approved output 4-7, - 50%.
The award of the contract shall 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; - 70%;
- Financial Criteria weight; - 30%.
Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points
Criteria
- Relevant education (Advanced degree an advantage) - 5;
- Expert in agro-hydro meteorology - 15;
- Relevant experience in conducting similar assignments - 10;
- Experience in developing training material - 10;
- Description of approach/methodology to assignment- 30.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:
- Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
- Personal CV or P11, 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;
- Technical proposal;
- Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
- A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
- Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II).