The Government of Malawi (GoM) joined the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) in March 2014. As a UN-REDD partner country, the GoM is receiving  Targeted Support (TS) from UN-REDD in the interest of contributing to and advancing its pursuit of REDD+ readiness. TS is a UN-REDD mechanism available to partner countries by which financial assistance and technical expertise are provided through a suite of thematic domains that reflect the major elements of a national REDD+ program.

Since its inception in August 2012, the Malawi REDD+ Readiness Program – a joint effort of the GoM, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United States Forest Service (USFS) - has served as the primary means of support for the MRP. With the support of the MRRP, the MRP has made considerable strides, including the development and implementation of a national REDD+ governance framework, REDD+ study tours to Zambia and Tanzania and an in-country study tour of REDD+ initiatives, the drafting and implementation of a comprehensive REDD+ workplan for 2013 and 2014, and the attainment of partnership status with UN-REDD.

The MRP seeks TS under the Institutional, Governance, and Technical domains. The thematic content of these domains aligns with a number of workplan action items that are critical inputs into a strong and growing national REDD+ program.

A core principle of the MRP is “no regrets REDD+”. Under this approach, the potential for carbon financing is an ancillary end of the pursuit REDD+. In other words, the prospect of securing funds through forest carbon transactions is not the sole impetus for Malawi’s investment in REDD+. Rather, for Malawi, the primary benefits of the pursuit of REDD+ include a range of potential enhancements to institutional, governance, and technical capacities, including  scientifically  sound monitoring of forest and land use, clarified resource tenure, reform and streamlining of the natural resource policy arena, and improved forest governance. Good forest governance is fundamental to achieving positive and sustained development outcomes, including those gained from REDD+ readiness.

• Guided by the MRP, the international consultant will conduct the participatory Malawi REDD+ corruption risk assessment (CRA) as a means to analyze the degree of transparency, accountability and inclusiveness of key forest governance processes and institutions and the extent to which corruption in the forestry sector acts as a driver of deforestation and forest degradation;
• Forecast and prepare for potential corruption under REDD+, and provide recommendations and tools to inform the design of constituent REDD+ elements that should address corruption and enhance and sustain good practices namely: policies within the forestry and natural resource management (NRM) sectors, safeguards, safeguards information system (SIS), and a national REDD+ strategy.

• Display cultural, gender, race, and age sensitivity;
• Demonstrate integrity by modeling the United Nations values and ethical standards;
• Display comfort working in politically sensitive situations;
• Have strong oral and written skills;
• Demonstrate research, analysis and report-writing skills;
• Have a good grasp of ICA/political economy analyses;
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills, particularly for facilitating discussions on sensitive topics;
• Ability to lead the formulation and implementation of projects.

Education:

• PhD or Masters in a relevant discipline, such as Political Science, Development Studies, or Sociology.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience on anti-corruption for REDD+ or in the forest sector;
• Knowledge of climate change issues and REDD+;
• Knowledge about governance and anti-corruption issues, preferably applied to the natural resources sector;
• Knowledge and experience researching and investigating issues of transparency, accountability and integrity in REDD+;
• Knowledge and experience of working in Malawi or the Africa region is preferred;
• Understanding of the work of the UN-REDD Programme and the UN-REDD CRA methodology.

Language:

• Fluency in English.

The applicant must satisfy the above qualifications and experience.

Application:

http://mmm.mw.undp.org/content/malawi/en/home/operations/procurement/ or send an email to procurement.mw@undp.org and clearly quote the title of the assignment.