Background

This project is designed to strengthen capacity for environmental monitoring and information management in Albania by establishing an operational environmental information management and monitoring system (EIMMS) with a focus on biodiversity and protected areas. The project will address the need for an environmental monitoring system that is integrated throughout relevant government institutions and that uses international monitoring standards for indicator development, data collection, analysis, and policy-making. It will also build on existing technical and institutional capacity in Albania to align its management and monitoring efforts with global monitoring and reporting priorities. Increased capacity in this area will improve reporting to the Rio Conventions and lay the groundwork for sustainable development through better-informed environmental policy.

Project Description

Albania has become a Party to three Rio- Conventions after 1990-s which corresponds to the country’s change of regime and participation in international agreements on environmental protection. The national development agenda of Albania fully takes into consideration the fact that its development will only proceed by adequately taking into account, global processes and trends. The principles of the conventions, as well as of the European Union environmental policy, have been established as priority areas in the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) 2007-2013, which is under review for the period up to 2020. The Environmental Cross-cutting Strategy integral part of the NSDI is the basic document that represents the national policy on environmental protection and climate change. This document addresses all environmental and climate change components and sets general guidance on problems arising from sectors having an impact upon environment.

Reporting obligations under the existing environmental regulations have been restricted to compliance with environmental quality standards without including any information about policies’ effects and effectiveness. The lack of policy-oriented monitoring and information support tools hinders intersectoral collaboration throughout the entire policy process

In 2006 Albania, with UNDP support has conducted a self-assessment process aming at assessment of capacity needs (NCSA) and priorities with respect to the global environment and within the context of sustainable development so that Albania can meet the requirements of the Global Environmental Conventions in a coordinated and strategic manner

The NCSA highlighted that due to many problems existing in information collection and management systems, the government has limited capacity to meet its obligations, which results in uninformed constituency, poor knowledge of existing problems and their extent by the decision makers which in turn results in poor planning practices. The immediate need for sound and integrated information was articulated in NCSA as:

• Providing basis for the development of specific and yet future looking policies, strategies, plans, undertaking specific measures;
• Enabling the Civil Society organizations (CSO) and the general public in getting more aware and mobilized around solving particular issues and pressuring the government to adhere to its obligations;
• Reporting to the all three Rio Conventions to which Albania is the signatory and has commitments.

Reporting obligations under the existing environmental and climate change regulations have been restricted to compliance with environmental quality standards without including any information about policies’ effects and effectiveness. The lack of policy-oriented monitoring and information support tools hinders intersectoral collaboration throughout the entire policy process The key challenges and its causal linkages identified in the NCSA with regards to information management and reporting is summarized in figure 1 annexed herewith.

The existing Protected Areas (Biodiversity) Information System (PA-IS) is thought as the single, unique and more comprehensive national entry point for data and information on biodiversity in Albania. However, at its current scale and scope the PA-IS is limited to the protected areas network and cannot serve as a tool for informed decision making and reporting for broader natural resources management and conservation at national level and global level.

In addition, various projects carried out by many international and national agencies in the environment and natural resources management areas have generated a vast amount of data and information which are important for conservation and sustainable management of these resources within the country as well as within the region. These data and information are stored in various government and non-government agencies with no proper system established to interlink and retrieve for utilization.

Creating national wide environmental information system will therefore enable Albania monitoring and coordinating sectoral policies strategically to fulfill national obligations under global environmental and climate change agreements so that Albania can meet the requirements of the Global Environmental Conventions in a coordinated and strategic manner.

As an integral part (or the pre-requisite) of the national environmental information system establishment, the country needs to review various environmental and social economic indicators in order to create a well integrated and manageable monitoring systems that would form the foundation of national environmental information system.

The project is a response to the need for an environmental monitoring system that is integrated throughout the related government institutions, that is well coordinated and cooperates, using international monitoring standards for the selection of monitoring indicators, the data collection processes, the processing and reporting of this information covering all three Rio Conventions. The GEF contribution will develop national capacities in Albania to align its national environmental information management and monitoring system with global environmental monitoring and reporting priorities; including the compliance with the Multilateral Environment Agreements reporting obligations.

In particular the project will aim at:

• Development of the EIMS to enable integration of global environment and climate change commitments into planing and monitoring processes.
• Development and application of uniform indicators encompassing UNFCCC, CBD and CCD concerns and global environmental threats.
• Stakeholder’s capacity for information management (collection processing) of key global environment and climate change data and utilization (interpretation and reporting) is enhanced at national and local level.

Duties and Responsibilities

These Terms of Reference serve to define the responsibilities, tasks and qualifications required for a Natural Science Specialist to provide on-going technical guidance and inputs to the project team and consultants regarding environmental legislation revision that enable the environment for indicator monitoring and establishment of norms and standards to the environmental monitoring legislation for climate related by-laws, with an emphasis on environmental issues that are common to the three Rio Conventions.

Task 1 : Review of Environemntal Legislation

In collaboration with the technical staff of the Ministry of Environment, draft the following by-laws in English and Albanian language:

• Prepare the table of concordance for each of the Joint Ministerial Guideline in Albanian language;
• Prepare the technical relacion according to the relevant template in Albanian language;

Task 2:

Lead the public consultations for the three by-laws above and document the process through minutes of meetings.

3. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULES:

15 September 2016- 30 % upon drafting the Joint Ministerial Guideline of Minister of Environment and responsible minister for Economy “Requirements and standarts methods for leakage control of  fluorinated greenhouse gases equipments”and “On collection, storage and reporting data on fuel quality “ and conducting the public consultation meeting

15 November 2016 – 40 % upon drafting the Joint Ministerial Guideline of the Minister of Environment, Minister Responsible for Trade and the Minister of Education “On minimum requirements for training programmes, training certification,  for natural persons and undertakings and their evaluation system” and conducting the public consultation meeting

14 December 2017 – 30 % upon approval of the final drafts of the above mentioned by-laws by the Ministry of Environment and UNDP project staff

Competencies

CORPORATE COMPETENCIES:

•Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;

•Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;

•Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

•Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

•Communication - Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

•Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.

•Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

•Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

•Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Thorough understanding of disability issues, human rights, social inclusion and social services

• Excellent inter-personal and teamwork skills, networking attitude;

  Capacity to deliver as per deadlines;

  Strong expertise in Environmental Legislation and familiarity with climate related issues in Albania;

• Proven expertise with the Ministry of Environment on preparation the environmental legislation in compliance with EU regulations is advantage;

• Familiarity with the International Conventions and EU Regulations addressing Environment and Climate Change.

• Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily;

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• University degree in the fields of natural sciences or relevant related fields;

• Proven expert knowledge in the drafting environmental legal acts.

Work Experience

• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience;

• Proven experience in implementing similar tasks preferably in Albania or the Region;

• Good knowledge’s on policies undertaken from the Ministry of Environment and Albanian Government in the environmental areas in the last 5 years;

Language

• Good knowledge of both written and spoken English

5. Evaluation of Applicants

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
• Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Combined Scoring method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal;
• Combined weighted scoring: Technical (70%); Financial (30%).

30 % or 30 points: -At least 10 years of relevant professional experience with proven experience in implementing similar tasks preferably in Albania or the Region

30% or 30 points: - Strong expertise in Environmental Legislation and familiarity with policies undertaken from the Ministry of Environment and Albanian Government  in the environmental areas in the last 5 years;

10% or 10 points: - Analytical capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings with previous experience in legislation and report writing

General Conditions of Contract for the IC

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

UNDP Personal History form (P11):

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

The application should contain:

• A Brief Methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work . Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form...
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. (a template can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc);
• Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement. .*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period .All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. 

*Kindly note note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application.

Please note that UNDP is not in the position to accept incomplete applications - please make sure that your application contains all details as specified below in this notice.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process